To Catch a Shadow
by TheMidnightWhisp
Summary: A deity and a shadow do not mix. It is forbidden. But when Fierce Deity is called down to defeat Ganondorf once and for all, he stumbles across a strange little girl who causes him to question everything he's ever known. Even though she's a creation and servant of Ganondorf. Even though she's a shadow... Oni-LinkXOc
1. Tonight it Ends

**Chapter 1: Tonight It Ends**

**Hyrule Castle**

**8:30 am.**

* * *

There was a large meeting at the castle of Hyrule. Representatives from all over Hyrule had come to discuss what should be done about Ganondorf. Humans, Zorans, Gorons, and a few specially selected people were brought to the castle to decide what action should be taken. Only instead of working this out like sensible people, some were standing up shouting loudly while everyone else muttered and/or yelled back. They had been discussing this matter for over an hour now and no one could come to a sensible agreement on what to do.

Link dropped his head on the table in annoyance, this was going no where. Zelda carefully placed her hand over his arm. He glanced at her and she gave him a comforting smile.

"I say we get it over with!" one of them shouted.

"Yes but if we don't plan this out properly it will never work!" another man shouted back.

"And what do you propose we do?" the man shot back at him.

The tall white haired man sighed in annoyance at them all as he stood up from his seat at the head of the table.

"We're attacking tonight." the tall man declared with a deep and husky voice, one that silenced every other voice in the room.

Link softly sighed in relief. They had summoned the Demi-god not too long before the meeting started in wish of getting help from him. The only problem was getting everyone to agree when they should attack...

"_What?!_ That's impossible!" a large Goron shouted back.

Everyone started to mutter in agreement at this.

Oni-Link glared at them all with his pure white eyes.

"Then when should we attack?" he asked coolly. "Should we wait until he takes over another domain? Or would you rather wait until Hyrule itself is under his control completely?"

Everyone grew silent at this, thinking. Half of Hyrule had been taken over by Ganondorf, and he was now threatening to take over the heart of Hyrule. They all started to mutter to each other in agreement at this.

"If you'll excuse me." a Zora stood up now. "But how do you expect us to gather the proper amount of troops in such a short manner of time?"

The crowd started to mumble about this now in union, all agreeing with the Zora representative.

"I didn't." Oni said casually. "In fact I knew you wouldn't be prepared when you had summoned me. That is why I came." he explained without a hint of an emotion in his voice.

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"You knew?!" one of the humans said in disgust. "So you're only helping us based out of pity?" he asked.

"To put it lightly." the tall man replied.

Everyone stared at him and they all opened their mouths to start yelling and ranting again. But before they could they were cut off.

"Listen," Zelda spoke calmly as she stood. "It doesn't matter why he decided to come here, all that matters is that he's here and he can help end this nightmare."

"He shouldn't have too. The so-called Hero of Time should have finished Ganondorf long ago!" one of the human lords sneered.

Link flinched slightly but kept his gaze guarded. He didn't ask for any of this! Why did everyone all of a sudden expect him, a simple farm boy, to destroy the King of Thieves as if it were child's play?

"That's not important!" Zelda snapped back. "We need to end this now, it no longer matters who was supposedly destined to defeat Ganondorf. We all want this to end." she told them softly. "So let's do as Oni-Link suggested and finish this tonight. Have messages sent to your people immediately, and prepare your troops, if that's completed now, then they should arrive here by night fall. The sooner this ends, the better."

Everyone started to mutter at once to each other but after a few more minutes they all agreed to it and the leaders of each party sent out messengers to gather their troops.

Oni-Link crossed his arms and watched them with a straight face as they continued to discuss their plan of attack.

He felt someone touch his arm and he glanced down to see Zelda smiling softly at him.

"Thank you for coming, your help is greatly appreciated." she told him.

He nodded at her and glanced back at the others around the table, all looming over a large map of Hyrule.

Ganondorf and everyone and thing under his command would be demolished.

Tonight.

* * *

**Ganondorfs Castle**

**The Servants Room**

**9:45 am**

* * *

"What are you doing?!" a demon servant shrieked at the small shadow lying on her stomach on the stone floor. "Get back to your chores!"

The shadow swung her legs back and forth slowly. "How many bugs do you think are in here?" she asked as she stared intently at one of the deep cracks in the stone floor. She poked it with her finger and made a disgusted face and giggled as she felt something move under her touch.

"You'll get us all in trouble!" another servant cried.

The older and more angry servant grabbed the shadows arm and yanked her up, causing her to yelp.

"Get back to work!" the demon snapped and released her.

The shadow girl flinched and bowed her head. "... Yes ma'am." she muttered and scurried out of the servants quarters.

As soon as she closed the wooden door to the room she let out a small giggle.

She quickly moved down the cold hall, her bare feet slapping over the cool grey tiles.

The shadow, Shade, was wearing her regular servant clothes, a plain light brown dress that ran down to her knees and cut off at her shoulders, exposing her thin and small legs and arms. It had different colored patches here and there and stitch marks over the ends where it had started to fray. She had short white hair spiked up around messily, and bright yellow eyes. She was short, small framed, and flat chested. She looked like a regular young girl (a little odd perhaps as well), despite that she was only created a year ago today.

She was one of the few shadows Ganondorf created. Most of which had already been destroyed.

Shade raced to the kitchen where she was greeted by some cold glares.

"'Morning!" she chirped and smiled sweetly at them. At which, one of the demon servants sneered at her. Shade only bowed her head to avoid their glares as she started to scrub the dirtied dishes. She used a ripped and old cloth to dry them and she then carefully placed them in the cabinet where they came from. After a while of this, she ended up grabbing a pearl white dish from the dirtied water with different colored stones decorated the rim of it, while the center was laced in gold spirals. Shade stared in amazement at it, having never seen anything so lovely before.

Someone gasped beside her. "Careful with that!" the nearby maid hissed. "That's one master uses himself, and only on special occasions."

Shade frowned at it and continued to dig around in the water, only to find several others in there as well. _'They must have been mixed up with the regular dishes...'_ she decided that she should place them in the glass cabinet for now, thinking that they would be kept safe there.

She slowly scooped them all up in her arms, thinking that it wasn't too heavy for her to carry over to the cabinet.

Shade turned to move but did not see the other servant that was walking there behind her. She squealed as she bumped into him and her eyes widened in horror as she watched the dishes slip from her arms and fall to the floor.

_Smash!_

Within a blink of an eye, all the dishes were shattered on the stone floor, just barely missing from smashing into her bare feet.

Everyone in the room froze and stared at the shadow girl who gasped in shock. Then they all started to panic and yell at her.

"You idiot!"

"Stupid shadow!"

"You broke the masters dishes!"

"How could you be such a klutz?!"

Shade could only stare at the shattered dishes, tiny and large shards of glass splashed around her feet. She felt the blood drain from her face and a chill grow in her veins.

"Don't just stand there! Clean it up!" an older demon snapped at her.

Shade bowed her head and bent down in shame to pick up the shards of glass, being careful not to cut herself on the sharp and jagged edges. She felt something stab into her foot when she shifted slightly, she winced and tears stung her eyes. With shaky hands she reached down and tried to find where exactly she had been cut but could not quite find it. Her hand trace over her foot until she felt something sharp in her skin. She flinched as she scratched out the shards of glass that clung to her, making the edge of her nails turn a little red.

It didn't take very long before a demon came to her.

"Shadow!" a male voice yelled at her as he stepped in front of her.

She looked up at him innocently. "Y-yes?" she asked.

"Master wants to see you." the demon boy told her plainly.

She looked down at the broken dishes at her feet. She had to finish picking this up or else the others would be angry at her again... But she was far more afraid of what her master would do when she saw him.

"Come on you stupid shadow." the boy growled in annoyance and grabbed her arm, making her wince.

She tried to hop over the heap of broken glass but failed, she held back a cry as sharp pain stabbed into her feet with another crack of glass soon following from stepping on a piece of a dish. Making her leave behind bloody footprints as she stumbled out of the kitchen.

The boy yanked her out of the room and started to pull her down the hall.

She blinked back tears at the amount of pain that grew with every step from the glass stabbing into her feet. When she tried to pull back from the boy, just to stop for a second to remove the glass, he would only tighten his grip and pull her down the hall with more force.

She was going to be punished for this, and that made her tremble slightly.

When they reached the main hall the demon boy threw her to the ground in front of their master. She almost felt relieved to be off her feet but that was quickly replaced with fear. Shade lifted her head to see Ganondorf glaring down at her like she was some sort of disgusting bug.

She cringed slightly at the cold and heavy glare she got from him and tried very hard not to move as she bowed her head.

"Shadow." Ganondorfs deep voice rumbled out.

Shade looked up carefully. "Y-yes master?"

"I hear that you've destroyed some things of mine, is this true?"

"No, sir." she said as she bowed her head again. _'Not on purpose...'_ she thought to herself.

"Are you certain of that?" He asked.

Shade nodded.

"Then why have I been told that you broke a set of my formal dishes?"

Shade said nothing, she already knew where this was going.

"Care to explain what happened?" Ganondorf challenged. He already knew what she did and was going to punish her either way.

"I-..." she winced slightly as her voice cracked. "I accidentally bumped into another servant when I was trying to put the dishes away." She said softly.

There was a loud and sudden bang as Ganondorf slammed his fist down onto the arm of his throne. The shadow flinched at the noise and clenched her jaw.

"Clumsiness is unacceptable." he growled. "And then you dare to lie to me?! As punishment, you shall receive no food or water for an entire day. Take her away to the dungeons." he ordered the demon boy who had brought her here.

The other servant bowed respectively and grabbed the shadow by her arm forcefully. He yanked her up and dragged her behind him as he walked through the halls. She whimpered at the pain that shot through her feet.

"Oh, shut up." the servant snapped at her. "You're lucky he didn't give you a whipping." he hissed.

Shade bowed her head and bit her cheek to try and ignore the pain in her feet.

It didn't take long until they reached the dungeons. The demon boy pushed her inside of one and he grabbed a chain and collar and snapped it around her neck, which was attached to the wall behind her. She glanced up at him as he left the cell, locking the door behind himself as he disappeared down the hall.

Being bound like this meant that she couldn't teleport anywhere now. Not even to get food or water.

Shade bowed her head and crossed her legs carefully and started to cautiously pick out the glass from her feet. Her bare feet looked terrible, covered in dirt, cuts, and now blood. Her hands shook as she took out the shards of glass and dropped them beside herself, hearing little tap noises as they fell onto the cold stone ground.

Master was very tense... And the shadow couldn't figure out why. Normally he would not have thought about something as silly as broken dishes. So why today? Was it just because it was her? The stupid shadow girl who couldn't do anything right? Shade bowed her head. She didn't know.

But something was going to happen. Something Master didn't like. And Shade didn't like it either.

* * *

**A/N: Hello readers! How did I do with this? Updates may be a little slow because I'm finishing up the last chapter for Demon Tracks and then I have to finish the first one to the sequel. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this. ^_^ I am trying a little bit of a different style then how I wrote DT so let me know what you think of it and if this needs anything.**

**Oh yeah! Thank you to Wingscutdarkness who helped with the description! :)**

**Ciao.**

**-Whisp**


	2. The End and The Beginning

**Chapter 2**  
**Hyrule Castle 10:30 pm**  
**One hour left.**

* * *

Fierce Deity watched the troops march up to the gates of Hyrules castle one at a time. The Gorons had there giant weapons at hand meant for heavy damage, with heavy and large armor. The Zorans had thinner and quick moving weapons like bows and twin swords, with light and shinning blue armor. The humans had there longs swords and shields ready, their bright silver armor protecting there weak bodies.

The had all arrived on time, as the princess had predicted. Oni-Link watched them all with a straight face. The time had finally come, and Ganondorf would be killed by the gods own hands tonight.

He felt a little satisfied at that thought. The grand battle between light and darkness fought at his own hands. It was a true honor indeed.

A small smile played on his lips. No mercy would be shown to any who stepped in his way. Especially for those pesky minions of Ganondorfs.

Tonight would finally be the night where Ganondorf and everything under his rule would fall to bring about the new age of peace.

It was going to be a grand battle indeed.

* * *

**Ganondorfs Castle 11:25 pm**  
**Five minutes left.**

* * *

Shades small hands quivered as she tried to yank off the chain around her throat. She had summoned her shadow knife a few hours ago, but trying to cut through a thick metal chain proved to be difficult for her. If she wasn't bound to something earthly then she would have been able to teleport herself away to grab some food and then return without ever being seen. But being bond like this meant that she could only summon her shadow blade, and not much else.

Her stomach growled at her and she winced at the cramp in her stomach that soon followed. She was use to not eating a lot. Most slaves and servants were fed only enough to get them to survive the day. But she hadn't had any food or water for the entire day, and she doubted master would remember to release her until much later in the next day. If she was even that lucky.

She continued to cut at the chain, she had cut it about half way already, but she doubted she would be able to break through it any time soon.

She sighed and dropped her blade to the floor as she sank to her knees. Even if she did cut through it and left, master would punish her with something worse for trying to escape.

There was a loud and sudden crashing noise and a scream down the dungeon hall, which made Shade yelp and jump back. Her small heart raced through her chest and she scooted away as she heard noises of yelling and loud crashing noises of metal on metal.

Her eyes grew wide and she fumbled for her knife as she quickly started to cut through her chain. Knowing that something was wrong, very wrong.

She needed to get out of here.

She ran the knife back and forth over the metal and heard another scream that made her jump. She bit her lip to hold back a whimper and continued to cut through the chain until she broke through the first metal bar in the link.

She smiled at that and giggled slightly in relief.

Another smash came from down the hall and she flinched and tried to pull the half cut chain apart from the other link. She started to grow more and more panicked as she realized that this may not actually work.

"Well what's this then?" A deep voice came from outside her cell.

Shade froze and glanced up to see a large orange rock thing standing in front of her, arms crossed with a giant hammer in one fist.

Her eyes widened and she pulled harder on the chain.

The rock creature laughed. "It looks like we've got a little bird in a cage..."

"Just hurry up and kill it." Another voice snapped. A blue person with wet looking skin and strange markings all over him came up next with a long and slightly curved blade in his hand.

Shade flinched and hurried to try and cut apart the chain.

The larger rock like person smashed at the cell door with his hammer, creating a huge dent. He slammed it again and the bars started to bend even more and crack.

Shade whimpered and pulled harder on the chain.

And then, it snapped. With a loud crack Shade flew back the same time the cell door came crashing down. She scrambled up to stand and giggled slightly at the broken chain that hanged from her neck. But that quickly ended as she turned to see the two strange men staring at her in confusion.

"Let's just get this over with and join the others." The blue one stated.

The large orange one nodded in agreement.

Shades eyes widened and she held up her knife at them.

They stared at her for a second and then burst into laughter.

"Does she honestly think that she has a chance against us?! With that puny thing?!" The rock one laughed.

Shade glared and in a flash, stabbed him in the gut, enough to make him yell out but not enough to really harm him.

"Hey!" The blue one yelled and swung his blade at her.

She smirked and dodged. She ducked under his blade, slashed her own blade at his leg and jumped forward where she rolled and then raced up the stairs to the next floor.

The blue one screamed in pain, and cursed at her.

She raced up the stone stairs, wincing at the pain in her feet from having to pick out glass from them.

There was more yelling down the hall as she reached the next floor.

She gasped as she saw fire crawling along side one of the walls beside her.

_'Oh no...'_ Her mind whispered and she raced down the hall, flicks of fire spiraling around her. She made her knife disappear into the shadows for the moment, not wanting to run around with it.

She could hear people fighting and yelling. She flinched at the sound of something crashing into the wall on the other side of her.

She didn't even know where she was going, but for whatever reason after a while of racing around the castle, she found herself in the throne room.

Master Ganondorf stood there, looking furious. He was barking out orders to some of the twilight beasts he had and they quickly slouched away to attack the nearby trespassers.

Shade watched in horror and backed away from the scene in front of her.

A tall man, with snow white hair and a large twisted sword walked up to Ganondorf. He was enormous compared to Shade, easily over six feet tall with large muscles around his arms and legs. But his face... That's what Shade couldn't stop staring at. He didn't have any eyes. They were completely white. He had a strange blue lines reaching down his forehead to make a triangle shape and two sharp red lines marked beneath his eyes.

"This is the end, Ganondorf." The tall man declared. His voice was deep and ominous almost as if it were thunder in a way.

Shades froze in place and she stared in shock at her master and this stranger.

Ganondorf laughed darkly at him. "Oh no... This is just the beginning..." He chuckled.

The tall man glared, or at least it looked like he was glaring, as he brought his sword and pointed it directly at Ganondorf.

"Your time has come." He told her master cooly.

And with that, the white haired man attacked.

Ganondorf summoned up his enormous battle sword and blocked the strangers attack.

The stranger jumped back and slashed his sword at Ganondorf again, although he clearly missed, something that looked like a light beam shot out from his sword and slammed into Ganondorfs.

Ganondorf was pushed back slightly and he growled and glared up at the stranger.

Which was also when he noticed the shadow girl standing there.

"Shadow!" He snapped at her. "Attack him now!"

Shade froze. She would surely be killed of she tried that, but if she didn't master would punish her greatly afterwards.

The stranger also froze and whipped around to see her.

She stared up at him and gripped her tiny blade in her hand. He cocked his head to the side and frowned slightly at her.

Which distracted him enough for Ganondorf to attack him.

The stranger yelled out and spun towards Ganondorf as he swung his blade around to slam it into Her master.

They continued to fight, whipping and slashing their swords at each other and neither of them getting anywhere.

More strange people and creatures were standing by all the doorways and entrances, watching the fight intently and some were even cheering the stranger on.

Shade blinked and realized that everyone working for Ganondorf was either pushed back by their forces or dead. They must be, there would be no way that the guards and servants would ever let trespassers near their master. And now she was stuck here with all them. There would be no way for her to teleport away with this bloody chain around her neck, nor could she even sneak out one of the doors to escape seeing how they were all blocked.

Shade started to shake now, she was going to die either way. If her master won, he would destroy everyone here and punish her for not doing as he commanded and for escaping from the dungeons. But if the stranger won, they would surely kill her as they probably had to everyone else.

The strange man easily flicked his sword around to attack Ganondorf, to which her master would block and push the others sword away. The stranger jumped back, barely missing the blade that was whipped towards him, and then slashed his sword in one large arc. Firing one large circle of white magic at her masters chest.

Her master screamed out in pain suddenly and fell to his knees after a moment, and everyone in the room grew silent as the strange walked up to him.

Ganondorf started to laugh insanely. "You think-... You think this is the end?!" He panted out. "_You are a fool!_ _You're all fools!_ And when- ... And when I return... You will all fall..." He choked out in rage.

The stranger did not hesitate to stab Ganondorf through the chest directly.

"No. This is the end." He told her master simply.

And with that, Ganondorf coughed up black blood and black glowing cracks grew around his chest. He screamed out in fury and pain as the cracks continued to the rest of his body. And finally, he fell. His body turned into black and jagged shards that flew across the room.

And that was it.

Shade blinked and stared in horror.

Everyone started to cheer in excitement at their fallen enemy, and the tall man straightened his back and stood proudly before them all.

Shade screamed in absolute terror, making everyone in the room grow silent and turn to stare at her as her scream echoed throughout the throne room.

Her breathing quickened and she fell to her knees. He was- he was gone. But what did this mean? What would she do now? What could she do now? Being killed seemed more likely then anything else but now... She had nothing, she had no where to go... And she started to panic.

"Hey!" Someone yelled. "That's the brat that stabbed me!" The voice boomed.

Everyone started to mutter and stare at her as she stared hopelessly at the spot where her master use to be.

Everyone grew silent again as footsteps echoed through the throne room.

The tall white haired man approached her and she looked up at him and scooted away, desperately wishing to be able to disappear and hide away somewhere dark.

"Why don't you just disappear, shadow?" He asked her, his deep voice was calm with a hint of confusion in it.

She stared at him wildly and continued to scoot back away from him in fear of him killing her.

Everyone began to murmur and mutter questions.

"A shadow?"

"I thought they were all destroyed?"

"How could she be a shadow?"

The strange man continued towards her and when she finally hit the wall, he crouched down in front of her.

"So tell me, little shadow, why don't you just disappear? I know your kind can do that." He told her, his white eyes cutting into her own fearful yellow ones like knives.

Shade whimpered and tried to scoot further away from him, without any luck from the wall behind her.

The stranger grabbed the end of her chain and held it up.

"Is it because of this?" He asked her calmly.

Shade felt like her heart might burst from her chest from all the ice cold fear running through her veins. Her breathing only quickened and she only wanted him to kill her and be done with it. At least then her heart would stop screaming at her.

She clawed at the chain and tried to yank it away from him.

"Just kill her already!" Someone from the crowd roared.

Everyone else cheered in agreement and the stranger simple grabbed her arm and lifted her up with him as he stood.

"... No." He told them seriously, making everyone in the crowd grow silent and a few people gasp.

Shades eyes widened and she struggled in his firm grip around her arm.

"_No!_" She shrieked. "Let me go!" She yelled and clawed at his hand and tried to pull away from him.

But his grip only tightened on her wrist. He glared down at her for a second. His steely gaze then snapped to everyone else watching them.

"Clear out the rest of the castle. Kill anyone who gets in your way." He commanded in a deep and ice cold tone.

Tears pricked at the corner of Shades eyes as she watched in horror as everyone turned and left without a moments hesitation to kill everything and everyone she's ever known.

She screamed and slammed her fist into the strangers hand as she struggled to get away from him. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she realized her entire life and everything she had ever known had just been destroyed.


	3. A Bird in a Cage

**Chapter 3.  
Hyrule Castle.  
1 hour after the battle.**

* * *

The Demi-god sighed in annoyance as the shadow girl continued to struggle. She kicked, screamed, clawed at him, and she was even starting to cry again. She had even tried to cut him with a knife she had summoned, but he easily dispatched it from her.

"Oni?" A soft voice questioned in horror upon seeing him drag the shadow girl through the castle halls.

He looked up to see Zelda watching him with a pale face.

"W-what happened?" She asked quietly, staring at the strange girl he was practically dragging.

Oni-Link continued past her. He didn't have to answer to a mere mortal.

"Hey!" A deeper voice cut in. "What's going on? Why did you spare her life?" Link asked as he stomped up to him.

Oni-Link glared down at him. "I don't need to answer to you, boy." He said cooly.

Zelda's face grew sad. "Please, you owe us at the very least an explanation for this."

Oni-Link shook his head and then hissed in pain as the shadow girl dug her nails into his wrist. He lifted her up off of the ground slightly by her wrist, enough to cause her to yelp and stop clawing him. She was so short and small that lifting her wasn't difficult at all.

"Perhaps you do not understand the possible significance of this." The Demi-god started as he placed the girl back on the ground. "Your ancestors," He gestured to Link. "Destroyed every shadow in Hyrule and their creators. So how is it that Ganondorf was able to create another? A little dark magic cannot create such a being."

The shadow girls eyes grew wide with fear and she started to tremble slightly. Zelda's gaze softened when she looked at her. She looked so frightened and young...

"So that's why you kept her? To see if she'd answer a few questions?" Link asked, suspicion growing in his eyes.

"No." Fierce Deity stated bluntly. "I'm not going to ask her a _few_ questions. She's going to tell me _everything_."

The shadow continued to squirm in his grasp. "Let me go!" She yelled and tired to jerk her arm away from him, leaning her entire body to one side in hope that her weight would help.

"But why should that even matter? Ganondorf is dead. Isn't he?" Zelda asked carefully.

Oni-Link nodded. "Yes. He is dead. But I still want to know how he was able to create a shadow. Such magic should not exist so close to mortal hands."

Link scoffed and crossed his arms. Loathing how the Demi-god seemed to look down on all of them because they were humans.

Zelda thought about this, then spoke. "Alright... We'll trust your judgment on this. But please, don't be so rough with her, she looks absolutely terrified."

The shadows watery eyes widened at her as she stared in shock, not understanding why she would say that.

Oni-Link grunted and continued down the hall. "I would like to meet with all your officials when I return. This will only take a moment so I suggest you be quick." He said, not glancing back as he dragged the shadow down the hall and to the dungeons.

* * *

**Hyrules dungeons**

* * *

Shade tugged at the chain around her wrist that was attached to the wall. She was siting on her knees tucked beneath her and leaning forward to put some more force on the chain around her wrist. She had struggled and screamed when the strange white haired man chained her in here. His expression never changing to her outburst and sobbing.

She tugged on the chain again. "Let me out!" She pleaded.

She had to get out of here.

Master would be furious with her!

But... He was-... Dead.

Shade bowed her head as tears streamed down her cheeks and tapped on the stone floor beneath her. They would surely kill her now, or would they enslave her instead? She wasn't sure if she could handle being a slave to those who had murdered everyone she had ever known and her own master. Why should it matter if she was a shadow or not... But then again, she probably would have been killed if she wasn't.

She shook her head. None of it mattered.

_'Just do what your told. And never question your master.'_

Lesson number one.

* * *

**24 hours after the battle.**  
**Hyrule Dungeons.**  
**Midnight.**

* * *

"Let. Me. Go!" The strange girl screamed for the millionth time that night.

The guard by her cell sighed in annoyance. The shadow continue to pull on the chain around her wrist that they had somehow managed to get on her after what seemed like a very long time. She had been here for over a day and already the guard was sick of her. When they had brought her food she threw it at the cells bars and started to scream and cry again. She only stopped sobbing to be released when she passed out from exhaustion. She had been crying and begging them to release her the entire time.

But the Demi-god gave strict orders not to talk or even go near her until further notice, except for bringing her food and water.

"_Please!_" She screamed. "Master will punish me if I don't go back!" The girl sobbed out.

He heard another slam of metal as she jerked her wrist with the chain on it again. The guard let out another sigh.

This was going no where.

Why Oni-Link wanted to keep her alive, he didn't understand. Link and Zelda were in utter shock as Oni-Link returned with her. The three of them and many of the high officials themselves went to discuss what to do next with her.

"Let me go!" The shadow screeched again as something, that sounded like a rock, was thrown from her cell and launched across the hall.

The guard sighed again and leaned on the side of his spear, already exhausted with this job.

He frowned as he heard a giggle come from the cell beside him.

Another rock was tossed from her cell and into the other.

Another dark and childish giggle echoed through the dungeons.

The guards expression slowly went from confusion to annoyance.

_Clank_. Another rock.

Another giggle.

"Hey!" The guard snapped, not moving from his post. "Stop that!"

_Clank._

"Cut it out!"

_Clank._

"I said stop it!"

... _Clank._

The guard growled and turned to glance into the cell.

A rock was thrown directly at his face, making him yell out in shock and sharp pain.

"You little brat!" He snarled at her, gripping his cheek where the rock had hit him. "I said to stop it!"

The shadow girl only smiled darkly at him, her eyes a little puffy and red from crying so much.

The guard glared at her with enough fury to kill.

She lifted her thin arm again and threw another rock that whipped past him. Just barely grazing his cheek and making him flinch.

_Clank._

"Oh that is it!" He snapped and fumbled with the keys he had on his belt to open the cell door.

The shadows eyes widened and she scooted away from him.

With a long and high pitched creak, the door to her cell opened and the guard stepped in.

"Oh you are so gonna get it now." He growled as he stepped towards her.

"Stop." A voice commanded as footsteps approached them.

The guard spun around to see Zelda herself coming toward them.

"What's the meaning of this?" She asked him calmly.

"I- uh-... well she-!" He stuttered out, how could he explain and actually get away with something as absurd as this?

"Stand aside please." The princess asked him kindly.

The guard nodded, stood up straight and moved aside immediately.

"Hello," Zelda smiled at the shadow girl. "I'm Princess Zelda," She crouched down in front of the other wide eyed girl. "Do you have a name?"

The shadow nodded slowly, unsure why the other girl was being so friendly to her.

"S-shade." She got out quietly

"Well then, Shade, it's nice to meet y-" Zelda was cut off.

"What do you think you're doing?" A deep voice came in.

Zelda sighed as she stood an turned to the new comer.

"Hello, Oni, I was fixing a problem here, no need to be alarmed." Zelda explained.

The guard, without being noticed, slowly started to scoot away from the Demi-god, not wanting to get on his bad side too.

Oni sighed. "Was she-"

"No. There's nothing wrong here." Zelda said before he finished. She turned back to Shade. "This is Oni-Link, he can be a bit stingy at first but he's just shy."

The Fierce Deity glared at Zelda for saying such a thing but Zelda chose to ignore his cold glare.

Shade nodded slowly.

"So it's true then," Zelda started again as she gently grabbed Shades wrist where the chain was tightly wrapped around. "You really can't try to disappear when bound like this... Oni? Don't you think we could use something more civil then chains?"

The Demi-god frowned slightly and then took in a deep breath. "Fine." He breathed out as he moved towards the shadow.

Shade automatically flinched slightly as he moved towards her. Zelda moved to the side and Oni crouched down in front of the small girl.

He grabbed her bare left wrist, and with a snap of his fingers, the chain around her right wrist was gone.

Shades eyes widened but she didn't dare to move away from him, holding back her every urge to flinch away from him.

_'He killed my master...'_ Her mind whispered as the fresh memories flooded into her mind.

Oni pulled her left wrist closer to him and when his other hand grabbed it a golden looking bracelet appeared around her wrist. It was slightly heavy, but it wasn't too bad. It was about an inch and half wide and a clean bright gold.

Shade pulled back from him and he let her. She touched the cool new metal gingerly and then tried to push it off. Without any luck. The golden band was around her wrist tightly, but it wasn't too tight that it would bruise her.

"Enh-!" She started to squirm more with it, growing annoyed that she could get it off. And that only made her want to rip it off more.

"Don't bother." Oni's deep voice made her look up at him. "That won't come off unless I take it off. So don't waste your time with it."

Shade glared at him and continued to try and push it off.

She heard him sigh and stand. She glanced up at him and watched him walk out of the cell.

"Don't worry," Zelda started as Shade looked up at her. "He may seem mean, but he's really not that bad." Zelda smiled at her.

Shade frowned to herself and then felt something soft and warm wrap around her arm. She looked over to see Zelda pulling her arm up gently. Shade stood, watching the other girl with something like curiosity in her eyes

"Come on," Zelda smiled at her. "Lets go get you cleaned up." She said sweetly as she gently tugged on the girls small rough hands. "You look tired and hungry."

Shade nodded shyly and followed the other girl who pulled her out of the dungeons.

* * *

**A/N: So I've been hearing a lot of positive feedback about this story... So I will try and make sure updates come often. I apologize for it being so short but I did manage to add another three hundred words to what it was before.**

**Re:**

**Guest: Okay! I will try and be quicker with the chapters! 3**

**Ciao.**  
**-Whisp**


	4. Freedom For Five Seconds

**Chapter 4**

**Hyrule Castle: Zelda's Room.**

**10 Minutes from the dungeons.**

* * *

Zelda carefully held onto the small girls hand as she entered her own room.

Shade glanced around in awe at the beauty of the princesses room. Everything seemed to be laced in some sort of silver or gold, decorated with dignified colors and patterns. A large king sized bed was pressed against a nearby wall with a huge fireplace beside it. There was another door to their left which lead to a wash room, and a large closet stood proudly beside it.

Shade almost felt intimidated in being in such a lovely room, as though she was breaking some sort of rule in just glancing at it.

"Let's get you washed up first," Zelda started as she turned to the shadow. "Then I'll find you some new clothes and we can go to the kitchen right after for something to eat. How does that sound?" She smiled.

Shade blinked at her in how absolutely amazing that sounded, having never been asked if she wanted to do anything in her existence. Her mind couldn't even wrap around the concept that she was being offered to get fresh clothes...

The small girl nodded eagerly, desperately wishing that Zelda wasn't trying to tease and torment her with such an offer.

Zelda smiled brightly and pulled her towards the washroom.

Again, Shade was astonished at how wonderful it looked. It was just so clean... Compared to what the slave quarters were like back at her masters castle, this seemed almost too clean. As though if she dared to step onto the pearly white tiles they would rot beneath her from how filthy her feet were.

But Zelda didn't notice how uncomfortable she was, or maybe she just decided to ignore it, and Shade was pulled into the wash room as though it were perfectly normal. As if she belonged there.

Zelda released her wrist without looking back at her to see if she would run away. Instead, the princess moved to the large white tub in the center of the room and turned on the taps. Water rushed out, filling the air with steam and warmth. Shade shivered, her chilled skin not use to the sudden change from being in a cold damp cell.

Zelda threw in a few strange colored things into the water and bubbles started to form.

"Alright," Zelda smiled at her as she turned off the water. "You can undress and wash up. There's a towel to the side you can use to dry off, I'll have someone bring some fresh clothes for you when you're done." She said sweetly.

Shade couldn't help but stare at her in confusion and shock.

'_Why is she being so nice to me?'_ She wondered.

"I have business to attend to now. But I'll return later, take your time if you'd like." Zelda said as she left the room, closing the door behind herself.

Shade waited a second before moving towards the door, opening it just a crack to hear Zelda speaking softly to a maid.

"-... Oh no. Nothing like that. Just something that will fit her." Zelda said to whatever the maid had asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The maid bowed respectively and left the room after Zelda.

Shade closed the door and moved towards the tub, being cautious of her every step.

The water smelled amazing, maybe a little too sweet, but alluring none the less.

She slowly brought her hand towards the bubbles that piled up on the water, feeling their soft touch stick to her palm then tremble and burst beneath her touch.

She pulled back and couldn't help but smirk slightly as she wiped away the bubbles on her dress.

She peeled her old and tattered clothes off, and carefully stepped out of them as they dropped to the floor. Shade carefully lifted her thin leg over the tub edge and hissed as the warm water climbed up her leg. She quickly swung the rest of her body into the warm water as it engulfed her.

She took a quick intake of breath as the warm water lapped around her skin and pressed against her. She let out her held back breath and allowed herself to sink into the water to soak herself better. She smiled slightly as she ducked her entire head beneath the water and held her breath.

She popped her head back up and gasped for air. She then shook her head and began to scrub herself clean of all the dirt on her skin.

* * *

After a while Shade carefully stepped out of the tub, shivering vigorously now, and reached for the nearby towel Zelda had left for her. She wrapped it around herself and sighed.

It felt so nice to be clean.

Shade glanced back at the water and made a disgusted face at how disgusting it looked now. She moved to the end of it and pulled the drain piece out and watched a small whirl pool form in the dirty water.

She dried herself off and hung the towel over her shoulders to keep warm. The towel being so large in comparison to her that it could cover most of her body without her having to wrap it around herself.

She carefully opened the door to Zelda's room and stepped out of the washroom, shivering again from the cool air.

"Hello miss." A voice came from beside her.

Shade jumped and looked over to her side to see the maid from earlier there.

"Hello." She replied and bowed her head slightly.

"Her Majesty has ordered me to help you find some suitable clothing."

Shade nodded and the maid moved towards the bed.

"I've laid out a few pieces that you may choose from."

Shade moved up to them and frowned. They were either much too large for her, or far too fancy that she would feel ashamed to wear something like that.

"I'll let you pick, in the mean time would you like me to wash your own dress?" The women asked kindly.

Shade nodded. "Yes please."

The women smiled at her kindly and moved to grab her ragged old dress and then left the room.

Shade looked back to the clothes in front of her and pursed her lips.

There was a frilly pink one, a long blue one, a sharp green one, and finally a plain grey one.

Shade traced the tips of her fingers over the silky and soft fabric. Stopping when her fingers grazed over the grey one.

She grabbed it and held it up. It wasn't fancy like the others, and it would be baggy on her. Shade dropped her towel and began to put the grey gown on with the undergarments that had also been left out for her.

When finished she looked down at her self. It looked more like a large t-shirt on her then a dress, but she liked that. It reached down to her knees and wavered every time she moved.

She glanced at the large door leading into the hall.

Surely it wouldn't be so terrible if she looked around the castle. It's not like she could escape and get away very far before she would be caught.

So, with now clean feet, she walked over to the door, peeked outside of it to see the halls were empty, and left Zelda's room.

* * *

**The Throne room.**

* * *

Link groaned and felt the great urge to slam his head on the stone table he sat at.

He really hated these fancy meetings with all the human lords and representatives.

The lords and dukes were always arguing, as they always do, never able to find peace on either side of their argument. Oni-Link simply stood at the head of the table, opposite to Zelda as she sat politely on the other side, trying to compromise with a few of the lords that sat beside her.

"This is ridiculous!" A human lord shouted over everyone else. "Ganondorf is dead so we need not be having this discussion!"

"I agree." A Goron chief boomed in. "My people and I shall take our leave immediately."

"Yes but there are a few of his loyal servants around..." Sneered a nearby duke as he glanced at Oni, being present when he had spared the shadow girls life.

Oni gave them all a cold hard glare as they dared to sneer and look at him with such distaste.

"You called me down to help, no?" Oni asked them in a calm and somewhat mono-tone voice.

The group in front of him nodded reluctantly.

"Then I suggest that you follow what I do if you actually want my help." He snapped. "Who's to say that another will not rise up in Ganondorfs place and continue what he failed to do? But not only that, but with an entire army of shadows."

"That's just over thinking it!"

"Yes, no one would ever try to do something that extreme!"

"You're being daft."

Link growled to himself and stood up as he slammed his fists on the table, making everyone in the room grow silent as the noise echoed through the room.

"Enough!" He snapped at them. "You're all being foolish! If Oni wants to continue to figure out why Ganondorf had a shadow in his possession, then we will abide to it."

Everyone stared at him in shock. The quiet farm boy yelling at lords and high officials?

A human duke scoffed at him. "And why should we listen to a child such as yourself?"

"A agree with Link." A soft voice spoke up.

Everyone glanced down at Zelda as she stood before them all.

"For those of you who do not wish to help, you may leave, we will not think any less of you if you do. But for those of you who wish to help, your aid is greatly appreciated. All in favor of following through with Oni-Links plan?" She asked the crowd.

Link raised his hand as he sat back down, feeling a wash of relief for Zelda's intervention.

A lord across from him raised his hand, the Zoran representatives raised their hands hesitantly, and the Gorons soon followed.

More of the human dukes and lords raised there hands after.

A dark chuckle came from the group and they all turned to him.

"You're all fools..." The human lord told them as he stood. "Ganondorf is dead! We should be celebrating! Not trying to look deeper into something as simple as this!"

No one made any response to his remark. Instead, a few more raised their hands in favor of Zelda.

The lord shook his head and left, closing the large door behind himself as he muttered 'fools' under his breath.

Zelda looked at the crowd and smiled as though the lord had never even spoken. "Well then, it looks like majority rules. Thank you all for being able to understand the need for this continued search."

"And what do you plan on doing with that shadow girl?" A Goron called out.

Oni spoke up this time. "I will be the only one dealing with the shadow, that is all you need to know."

Zelda smiled slightly to herself as she remembered that she had left the poor girl alone in her room and not in the dungeons where she was suppose to be...

The Goron who had asked the question did not look satisfied with the answer he got, but did not press further on the matter.

"Then I believe we are done here." Zelda said, wanting to get back to Shade and make sure she didn't do anything bad. "I welcome you all for tomorrow's celebration of the battles end."

Everyone cheered in agreement at this, which would possible be the only thing they would ever all agree on.

Oni frowned slightly to himself and left the room without glancing back at any of them. He had to figure out how this shadow was created... He didn't have much time left...

Link smiled and shook his head as he stood. He nodded to Zelda in respect and thanks as he left the throne room.

Zelda smiled back and stood as she quickly left the room.

Praying to the Goddess that Shade didn't leave her room.

* * *

**Down one of the castles hall.**

**Several minutes after the meeting.**

* * *

Shades bare feet, that felt extremely clean, tapped over the cool grey stones of the hall she raced down, giggling to herself.

Her baggy grey dress, that was more like a giant shirt, waved around her knees as she ran.

She should have stayed in Zelda's room. But she was far too curious as to where she was.

She stopped suddenly at a cross section between two halls and glanced down both of them.

She could hear voices coming down one and slowly went to investigate.

"-Well of course there will be! I mean... There better be!" A deep voice echoed down the hall that Shade slowly walked towards.

"Ugh." Anther voice groaned. "Is that all your kind thinks of? Rocks and consuming alcohol?"

The other and more deep voice laughed. "The two greatest things in life, my brother!"

The other one sighed in response.

Shade peeked around the corner to see a person covered in rocks and the other one with blue and wet looking skin.

And for some odd reason they looked familiar...

The blue ones attention, as if on cue, snapped up towards Shade and he stopped moving as he stared at her.

Shade could only stare back and the rock one also looked up.

"Hey! I know you!" The rock one yelled.

"You're the one who stabbed us!" The blue one realized.

Shade squeaked and raced down the hall she had come from.

She remembered them now. The ones who were going to kill her when she was stuck in that cell...

They yelled after her and she heard footsteps stomping after her.

She held back her urge to scream and continued to race down the hall, hoping that she wasn't too far from Zelda's room...

"There!" The rock one called after and she snuck a glance back to see that they were directly behind her now.

She tried to run faster but her little legs wouldn't allow her such.

Something grabbed her arm and she squealed as she was yanked back.

She started to claw at the hand around her arm and panic filled her. The rock man lifted her up and she kicked and squirmed in his grasp up off the ground

"Awe... How sweet." The rock creature cooed.

"What should we do with the little shadow?" The blue one wondered out loud as he gave her a dark smile.

Shade yelled and tried to squirm away from them, but his grip was too tight. She whimpered and clawed at his hand but she knew it would do nothing against the rock like skin.

"Hm, we should replay the favor she did to us in the dungeons..." The blue one said.

"An excellent idea, brother." The other replied and smiled just as darkly at her.

Shade slammed her fist into his arm, tears pricking at her eyes in fear.

"What's going on here?!" A deep voice growled at them, making them all freeze and turn to see who had spoken.

A very, very, angry man approached them, glaring at them with such hatred that if looks could kill, they would be dead in less then a second.

The rock man dropped the shadow girl and started to stutter. "N-nothing sir! She escaped her cell and we-"

"Enough!" The new comer snapped at him as he walked past him and stopped in front of Shade as she sat on the ground, looking up at him with wide and fearful eyes.

Oni-Link.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! A longer chapter! So, I guess what I could say is that the next chapter will have some more plot development in it. **

**Oh boy, what will Oni do now? :) **


	5. The Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter 5**  
**Hyrule Castle: Down the hall**

* * *

Shade blinked up in fear at the white haired man that towered over her.

The very man who had killed her master.

He simple gave her an emotionless stare and then tuned his gaze to the others where it grew cold.

"You two causing trouble here?" He asked the two other men with a tone that sounded almost like a growl.

"N-no sir." The rock one stuttered out as the blue bobbled his head in agreement.

"Good." Oni replied as he gave them one final glare and turned around to walk backdown the hall. "Shadow. Follow." He said without looking back.

Shade almost flinched slightly at that, he sounded like the others back at her masters castle... But she managed to contain it and just stared after him, surprised that he would act as though he was commanding her. Which, she supposed, would make sense... He did kill her master and making her his own slave would be the more obvious option.

But whether that was true or not, Shade stood and bowed her head slightly as she followed after him, trying to avoid the heavy glares she got from the other two.

"We'll see you around. Shadow." The blue one sneered.

The rock one nodded and walked away with his friend as she continued to ignore them.

She scurried down the hall, trying to keep up with the Demi-gods long legs.

She looked up at him shyly then quickly looked away. She was curious and frightened of what he was going to do. But staring at someone of his stance, that would punishable indeed.

He made a turn to his right and Shade felt her stomach growl at her and start to cramp up again as the smell of food hit her.

Oni walked through the kitchen door and she followed behind obediently.

"Sit." He commanded and gestured to one of the wooden chairs at the long wooden table, away from the other servants that worked busily down the table from them.

She had to push herself up onto the tall chair and then sit there politely with her head down until he moved back over to her.

He tossed a large piece of bread on the table in front of her and sat in the chair across from her. Her stomach started to tighten at the sight and smell of the bread in front of her.

"Go ahead." He said as he gestured slightly to it.

Shade didn't need to be told twice. She tried very hard to eat it as politely as she could without shoving it all into her mouth and gobbling it all down at once.

He watched her carefully as she ate, trying to figure out what her deal was. But she didn't try to fight him or to even resist him as she sat there, her back to the open door behind them. Perhaps she knew she would be caught if she ran, or had she given up already?

"Tell me," He started when she was nearly finish the bread. "Are you aware of how you were created?"

The girl thought for a second, then shook her head. Master had never told her exactly how, she had never asked. Nor was she ever allowed back into the room where she was created. Strange and blurry memories flashed behind her eyes as she thought about that room...

Cold black darkness. But for some odd reason, whenever she tried to remember what happened, the memories slipped away.

"-Shadow!" Oni snapped at her for the fifth time.

Her head jerked up in response and she looked at him wide eye.

"F-forgive me..." She told him and looked down.

He simply nodded and watched her eat as she leaned her head on her small, balled up fist. She lifted her hand to cover her open mouth as she yawned, her eyes tearing up a little after.

"When were you created?" He asked bluntly.

She blinked as she glanced at him and then looked down as she nibbled some more bread.

"... A year ago yesterday..." She said softly, she didn't know her exact age, (she looked quite young for a shadow), but for whatever reason, she could remember very clearly when she was created.

He nodded and looked off into the distance, his eyes looked guarded and deep in thought.

Shade felt her eyes drop shut and she quickly opened them again and blinked hard. 'It's not time to sleep...' She reminded herself.

Oni waited until she finished eating to ask her more questions.

After a good five minutes of silence he spoke up. "Are there any others like you?" He asked her as he watched the trees sway outside the window.

But this time she didn't reply. Oni glanced at her, about to repeat his question when he saw why she didn't answer.

The girl was asleep. Her head leaning against her pulled up fist and her lips slightly parted as her breathing grew into a slow continuous pace. Her body looked more relaxed and her head started to waver slightly as she fell deeper into sleep. Her dark lashes fluttered slightly against her delicate cheekbones as if she was having a bad dream.

Oni frowned, it was odd. The little shadow, loyal to Ganondorf, an enemy to everyone here... Seemed to be no more then simple child... She seemed so much younger as she slept.

Oni shook his head. He should have woken her up, but she already seemed to be so skittish of everything, he decided that by allowing her to rest he would gain better results for his future questions.

There was a soft knock on the door, causing Oni to look up to see Zelda.

"Your Majesty." He said as she walked in.

Zelda smiled at him and then looked at the sleeping girl at the table.

"Poor thing..." She muttered and then smiled at him. "Oni, what did you do to the poor girl? You didn't scare her to death did you?"

Oni frowned in confusion. "I did no such thing. I asked her a few questions and she fell asleep..."

Zelda smiled and sat beside the girl. "She's quite adorable, don't you think?" She asked as she glanced and smiled slightly at Oni.

Oni continued to frown. _'Adorable?'_ He wasn't sure. She was innocent, young, and nervous... But _adorable_?

Perhaps, some would think she was with her small and delicate features, but to the Demi-god, he wasn't sure if he had ever thought of anyone as adorable.

"She's odd." Oni stated. There, that was a much better way of putting it, one that he could actually understand.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're just being stubborn..."

Shades head flopped forward suddenly and she jerked up in surprise, her eyes widening as she took a quick intake of breath.

She blinked hard and stared wildly at the two others that watched her. Her cheeks grew warm in embarrassment and she bowed her head quickly.

"I-... I'm sorry." She said softly.

Zelda touched her arm gently. "It's alright sweetie. Come on, you can rest in the servant quarters for now." Zelda looked at Oni to make sure that he was done with her for now.

He gave a simple nod and Zelda helped the girl off her chair.

"Come along then." She said as she left the room.

Shade followed behind with her head bowed but her eyes flickered shyly up at Oni the second she passed into the hall. The stone wall cut off their eye contact after a split second though.

Oni frowned to himself again, unsure what to make of that. Was it simply just her not trusting him? Or was it out of nervousness? He couldn't decide. Perhaps if she became more comfortable around him, she would be able to tell him with ease what he wanted to know. Which meant he would have to gain her trust, and hope that that would help him. Though he had been warned that shadows take after those who create them, they are deceiving and sneaky, and very loyal. Which meant trying to gain her to trust would probably be somewhat of a challenge. But if it didn't work... He would have to find some other way.

_'No matter.'_ He thought to himself as he stood. _'Once I figure this out, everything will be fine.'_

And then maybe...

Maybe he would be able to get his mask back, and finally be free...

* * *

**Hyrule Castle: The Servants Quarters.**

* * *

Zelda opened up an old wooden door and gestured Shade inside.

Shade stepped in carefully and glanced around. It was a long room, many old and single sized beds lining the walls on either side of her with just about two feet between each one. The floor was a cracking grey cement like everywhere else. And there was a single window on the wall directly from them, a pale midnight light grazing in.

"Alright, the last few beds there are not being used so you can take your pick." Zelda told her.

Shade nodded and smiled slightly at her. "Thank you miss."

Zelda smiled brightly and said goodnight as she left the room, closing the door behind herself.

Shade sighed softly and wondered over to one of the beds pushed against the far back corner.

She peeked out the window to see stone arcs and walls, with the woods past that. She pressed her hand to the faintly colored glass and felt the cool chill come from it. She shivered and bowed her head.

She shouldn't be here...

She should have protected her master! Then all of this would have been avoided.

She glanced down at the dark woods below and thought she had saw something move back deeper into the woods, but she must have been mistaken. It was probably just a shadow from one of the trees.

Shade closed her eyes for a second and then moved away from the window. She moved to the bed and saw that she wouldn't be able to crawl under it to sleep so she decided to just lie on top of it this time. She curled up on the bed, which wasn't very comfy but to someone who had never laid on a bed in her life, it was the most comfortable thing she had ever been on.

She rolled herself into a ball like shape and hugged herself to keep warm.

Tears continued to stream down her cheeks until she was too tired to cry any more.

* * *

**Hyrule Castle: Links room.**

* * *

Link sighed to himself and practically fell onto his bed in exhaustion.

He had just finished breaking up a fight between some snobby human lord and some egotistical Goron guard. Apparently they were arguing about whether or not Zelda was right to allow Oni continue his so-called investigations or not. And eventually Link had to break them apart before they started to rip each others throats out.

He didn't really see what the big deal was. Sure Oni seemed to be a little too over careful about this, but it wasn't like it was effecting anyone else. Link didn't mind, as long as Ganondorf was finally dead. He would be content.

... Dead...

Link almost couldn't wrap his head around it. He had failed terribly when he had first attacked Ganondorf. Of course, he was practically alone, and just a country side boy, but those were just an excuses.

He clenched his jaw. _'Some great hero...'_ He thought pathetically.

He glared up at the ceiling, disappointment and shame poisoning his mind.

He should of killed Ganondorf by himself!

He should have-!

A soft knock on his door interrupted his thoughts and he sat up as he told them to come in.

The door opened carefully and Zelda peeked her head through with a soft smile on her flawless face.

"Hello." She said as she walked in, closing the door slightly behind herself.

"Uh, hello, Your Majesty." Link started as he stood. "Did you need something?"

Zelda nodded. "I wanted to ask you a question..."

Link waited.

Zelda sighed. "Do you think it was the right decision, to support Oni I mean?"

Link stared at her. "Of course it was! I mean... You wouldn't want him to unleash his-... angry god powers on all of Hyrule right?" Link joked lightly.

Zelda smiled. "I suppose you're right." She moved and sat on the end of his bed. "I just want to make sure I'm doing what's right for my people..."

Link sat beside her. "You are. It was your idea to summon him, and look. Ganondorf is dead now." He said to comfort her.

She nodded. "Yes... I just wish that they would get along now..."

Link chuckled weakly. "I don't know if you can fix that now... But it's not anything to worry about."

Zelda looked at him. "Thank you."

Link nodded and felt his cheeks grow slightly warm as he looked away.

"Link?" She asked, making him look at her. "Is everything alight?"

"Hm? Yeah... Why wouldn't it be?" He frowned.

"Well... You've seem upset lately..." She trailed off.

Link looked down. "Oh." He felt his jaw clench at this.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her voice filling with concern.

Link hesitated. How could he explain that he felt like a complete failure? That he failed all of Hyrule when he fell before Gamondorf. That he, the chosen hero of the goddess, was just a simple farm boy wielding a sword and shield pretending to be some great hero...

Pretending to be important.

Link shook his head. "I was angry before... But please, don't worry about me, I'm feeling much better now." He told her as he forced a smile.

Zelda didn't believe him but she decided that she wouldn't press further on the matter.

"Alright..." She said as she stood, Link stood up with her. "But I have a favor to ask of you now." She told him, her expression growing serious.

Link gave her a confused look at first and then nodded. "I will do what I can." He told her.

"Good." She replied as she walked towards his door to leave. "Then you shall be my escort to the party tomorrow she said while trying to hide her smile.

Link couldn't stop his cheeks from growing even more warm. "Y-you want me to take you to the party?" He stuttered out in disbelief.

"That's not a problem is it?" She asked as she turned to him before leaving.

"N-no. Not at all Your Highness." He said as he bowed slightly.

"Great. Thank you Link, have a nice night." She smiled sweetly as she left.

Link stared after her as she closed the door behind herself, leaving him alone in his room again.

He was-... Going to the party with the princess herself.

Link couldn't help but smile at that as he flopped back onto his bed.

Things were starting to look up now.

* * *

**Ganondorfs Castle: The Dinning Hall.**  
**Half Past Midnight.**

* * *

Everyone in the castle was dead.

Servants, soldiers, shadow beasts... All dead and rotting on the ground they laid on. Dark pools of dried up blood around them, already fading away.

It was quiet, too quiet.

The walls were burnt, the curtains slashed open, and the furniture smashed to bits.

They might have well have burned the entire castle down, save them from the visual disgrace of failure at the very least.

The ashes in the dinning room started to stir as a faint breeze from an open window came in.

Someone gasped as their eyes flew open.

Blood red eyes.

_'Master...'_ His mind whispered. _'Is dead...'_

He tried to sit up but gasped and winced as something in his chest jabbed him painfully.

He pulled out the sharp piece of metal stabbing through his chest. His chest rose and fell back in exhaustion, and he looked around himself in a half dazed confusion.

Death.

He remembered now. Someone had killed him. Stabbed his heart and thought that that would be the end of him.

He chuckled weakly.

Shadows weren't killed off that easily.

He stood and brushed himself off as though it were nothing.

_'Well then...'_ He mused to himself as he glanced around the destroyed room. _'It appears as though I've got some work to do...'_

* * *

**A/N: Hey people! Some of you may have noticed the change of character in the description... :) Anyways, it's time for reviews!**

**Re:**  
**Guest: :) Thank you! Your reviews are quite adorable. I will try and make sure the chapters come out quicker. ;)**


	6. Celebrations and Terrors

**Chapter 6: Celebrations and Terrors **

**The Sacred Realm.**

**Six months ago.**

* * *

_"Please Your Highnesses!" The god pleaded. "Allow me to keep my mask for myself!"_

_"And allow you to be free so easily? Tsk tsk..." One of the goddesses got out defiantly, flicking her long red hair behind herself._

_The god bowed his head and clenched his jaw. "Then what must I do in order to obtain it?"_

_The goddesses all looked at each other and smiled slightly._

_"Defeat all the evil that the hero failed to destroy. Then you may be free." They all said in unity._

_The god nodded and bowed deeply. "Understood."_

_"But be warned half god," The blue haired goddess spoke as he straightened his stance. "The first death of the king of darkness will not end his life."_

_"Yes... Beware of the shadows who serve him." The goddess with long green hair warned. "These dangerous creatures cannot be allowed to exist anymore."_

_The god nodded. He had heard much of these so called shadows. They were extremely loyal to their masters, or who ever had created them, and very deceitful. They were created of pure darkness itself and had not been seen for hundreds of years until now._

_They were monsters. All they ever do is cause destruction and horror to everything around them. They did not belong in a world of light._

_"Thank you, Your Majesties. I shall not fail you." He assured them as he bowed slightly again._

_"See that you do not. Or else we will force you back into your mask without a moments hesitation." They said, their lovely voices echoing around him like haunting chimes. "The humans will summon you soon."_

_The god nodded and left the sacred area the three goddess were in._

_Demolish all darkness in Hyrule to gain his mask and become an actual being instead of a tool._

_To gain his freedom._

* * *

**Hyrule Castle: Servant Quaters.**

**Present time.**

**6:00 am.**

* * *

Shades eyes opened slowly and she almost started to panic when she realized she wasn't at her masters castle. It took a moment for her to remember how she got here and why.

She sat up and shivered slightly. There wasn't any light coming through her window, and she was grateful that there was still a little darkness out.

Shade stood up and left the servant quarters, her bare feet lightly tapping over the cool stone floor. She shouldn't have left the room, but she didn't care.

She just wanted to go outside for a little bit. She decide that if she was only gone for a bit, no one would notice.

Shade scurried down the hall and tried very hard to avoid anyone who may have been wondering the halls that were connected to the one she was running down.

When she reached the end, she found a flight of stairs to her right and started up those. She opened the door that stood before her at the top of the stairs and felt a cool breeze tickle past her bare skin.

She shivered a little and walked out onto the castle wall. The sun was still down, which made it chilly out. She continued down the path in the wall and when she reached the end, she climbed up onto one of the stone arcs and sat there. She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her pulled up knees.

She watched the trees sway lazily below her, waving at her almost. She wished that she could have been down there... Free with the trees.

She looked down at her wrist where the gold band snaked around. She started to pull at it again, her nails scrapping at it, but again she had no luck. She spun it around her wrist and frowned at it. '_Why didn't he use rusty chains? Why would he use something like this?'_ She wondered to herself.

'... _Maybe he's just mocking me...'_

Shade shook her head and shivered more as a cool breeze whistled past her bare skin.

She distantly wondered if she could try escaping. She could run through the woods until she found some sort of village and then-

'_I'd be alone.' _

Of course, she had always been alone, everyone who worked for master either ignored her, or punished her for doing something wrong.

Either way she was always going to be trapped.

She sniffled slightly.

She just wanted things to go back to how they use to be. To be back at her masters castle and go back to being that useless shadow who never did anything right. At least then she could hide better from everyone.

"What are you doing here?" A deep voice came from her left.

She jumped and looked over with wide eyes to see Oni. She blinked hard and looked down at her knees to avoid his blank gaze.

"J-just getting some air." She told him softly.

He frowned slightly at her expression and moved up to her.

"You weren't thinking about running away were you?" He asked her seriously.

"N-no!" She got out quickly as she turned and stared at him.

"Good." He replied without a hint of emotion as he leaned his elbows against the stone edge, gazing out into the forest.

Shade watched him for a moment then looked away, feeling herself grow more and more tense as silence hit them. She glanced nervously back towards the east, seeing that the sky had grown lighter, but the sun had not yet peeked out over the horizon.

"Are you cold?" Oni asked her suddenly.

She looked at him in surprise for a second, and then shook her head. It was chilly out, and her arms had goose bumps, but she was use to the cold. Her masters castle was always very cold.

She heard him sigh beside her. "Let's go back inside now." He told her as he started to walk back to the strange door she had found.

She hoped off the stone arch she sat on and followed after him.

Once back inside the castle Oni led her down the hall and back to the servant quarters.

"Stay here." He commended. "I'll be with your shortly." And with that, he left down the hall.

Shade frowned. She didn't want to stay here. Or go back to sleep. But she also didn't want to be punished for not listening to him.

She summoned her shadow dagger and clutched it to her chest as she walked into the servant quarters.

She walked up to the bed she had slept in and sat down on it, looking at the knife in her hands. She frowned at it then quickly hid it beneath the bed as she heard someone walk up to the doorway.

Oni stood there, his head nearly touching the top of the doorframe.

"Come." He said as he stepped back from the doorway and started down the hall again. Shade blinked at him for a second and then quickly raced after him. She followed behind him with her head slightly bowed and tried to keep up with him.

Oni glanced back at her and frowned ever so slightly. She could feel his eyes on her and she held back a nervous giggle. He looked away and continued down the hall.

"... W-where are we going?" She asked, finding the courage to speak to him.

Oni didn't even glance back at her as he spoke. "Why is it that you cannot remember how you were created?" He asked.

"Uh-" She frowned at him. What could she say to that? She had already told him she didn't know. Did he not believe her?

"Well?" He asked impatiently.

Shade winced slightly. "I don't-... I don't know why." She said.

Oni sighed and half growled to himself. "This is proving to be more difficult then I expected." He muttered under his breath. If she didn't know how she was created, and was the last shadow, would he have to return to Ganondorfs castle to figure out how she was created? They had already searched every spot in that damned castle. What more was there?

She hoped that they wouldn't go back. Shade shuddered slightly at thought of what it would look like now. Destroyed and ruined, everyone left there to rot. She didn't even want to think about it.

They continued down the hall until it started to grow more and more decorated and fancy. The higher and more well kept area of the castle, where nobles and knights lurked.

There were also more windows around them, the sun just starting to peek out from the horizon, and allowing light to shine into the hall they walked in.

Shade winced and tried not to look at the light beaming on the floor she walked on. Her eyes were starting to hurt and her skin felt like it was being crawled on by sharp legged bugs.

Her head was growing faint and she blinked hard to stay awake.

"O-Oni..." She mumbled, feeling the suns painful warmth creep up into her skin as they continued through the hall.

"What?" He asked, glancing back slightly at her from her tone and from the fact that that was the first time she had used his name.

She hissed and moved closer to the opposite wall from the light, but it didn't help.

"The- the light... It's hurting me." She whimpered and looked at him to see something flash over his eyes, something like confusion and what may have been pity.

She looked down quickly. She didn't want his pity.

"Very well." He said as he grabbed her arm and walked with her, shielding her from the light with his body as his shadow was cast down on her. "Does this help any?"

Shade nodded slightly, feeling less dizzy then before. But her skin was still burning.

"It's not even that bright out.." Oni muttered to himself.

"I'm new..." Shade also muttered.

"What?" He looke at her.

"N-new shadows are more sensitive to the light." She explained softly, avoiding his gaze.

He frowned slightly and then went back to his serious expression soon after.

Shades eye flickered up at him and then away, not wanting to catch his annoyed eyes or the suns light.

They made a turn to the right and the suns light quickly faded out. Oni's grip remained on her arm and she squirmed slightly. He side glanced at her and then realized the majority of the light was gone. He released her as though he hadn't noticed at all.

'She's so... Odd.' His mind whispered. 'She's a shadow, shouldn't she be trying to tear my eyes out and drink my blood?'

He shook it off, she was nothing more then a child, and was afraid of him, both benefitted him in case she were to try and attack ever.

"Oh, hello Oni." A pleasant voice chimed through the hall.

Shade looked up to see Zelda smiling at them as she walked towards them.

"Good morning." Zelda said sweetly to Shade as they stopped in front of each other.

Shade blinked at her for a moment an then grinned up at her. "Good morning!" She chirped.

Zelda's smile brightened at that. "Oni? You haven't forgotten the celebrations tonight have you?"

"Not at all Your Majesty." His deep voice echoed out in the hall.

"Have you found someone to escort there yet?" Zelda teased lightly.

Oni glanced away and coughed a little awkwardly and tried to recompose himself as his skin grew warm. "No Your Highness, I will not be escorting anyone there." He replied without emotion.

Zelda watched him for a moment and then went back to her pleasant smile. "It is a masquerade ball so I expect you to fully participate." Zelda said.

"I-..." Oni sighed to himself. "Very well, if you insist."

"Excellent." She smiled an turned to Shade. "I have some masks you may borrow if you'd like to wear one as well." Zelda told her.

Shade stared at her, her mind unsure how to respond to this. Oni started to protest against this but Shade beat him to it.

"I- I would love to," Shade said softly while smiling at her. "Your Majesty." She added politely.

Oni looked at the shadow in slight disbelief, but Zelda's' smile never wavered.

"Good, I have one that will be just perfect for you." Zelda said and walked past them. "I must be on my way, see you both tonight."

Shade waved at her as a goodbye. Excitement bubbled inside her and she tried to hold back a giggle of delight. Was she really going to a party? It seemed so strange that she was half thinking they were tricking her into looking like a fool.

Oni continued to lead her down the hall

After a moment he led her into an ornate round room. Shade looked around in awe, it seemed as though just about every room in the castle was decorated so elegantly. Though it wasn't as fancy as the princesses room. It was a bit bigger and far more open. The walls were pure white and painted with blue and red swirls near the base boards. And on the navy blue ceiling there was an extremely well painted moon. Shade stared at it in wonder. Unable to take her eyes off it.

"Do you like it?"

Shade looked back at Oni. The demi-god was looking down at her with his emotionless pure white eyes. Studying her almost.

"I painted it myself." He continued before she could give an answer, once again without a hint of emotion.

Shade didn't know how to answer him. She did like it, it was wonderfully painted. But she was almost too afraid to speak, the words catching in her mouth. So she bit her lip and nodded instead.

"Sit." Oni commanded as he pulled out a wooden chair for her and himself.

Shade hesitantly sat in a wooden chair, pressing down her dress around her small legs as she sat. Oni sat opposite of her on another chair, and watched her.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions. You're going to answer them all honestly." He stated.

The Demi-god still showed no emotion and it was starting to scare her. She nodded slowly in response, swinging her legs a little on the chair to try and relax herself in the tension.

"Good. Let's begin."

* * *

There was a loud knock on the door, making Shade jump, and Link walked in before Oni could answer.

"I would say you may enter but it appears that you've already let yourself in." Oni said in a hard tone.

Link held back the urge to roll his eyes. "Zelda wants to talk with you."

"About?"

"The guards."

Oni nodded and stood. "You're dismissed." He told Shade, who looked half asleep from all the questions.

She bolted up from her chair and raced out of the room, letting out a small giggle as she ran down the halls, happy to be gone from his seriousness and the intensity of that room.

Oni frowned after her and then looked to Link. "Where can I find her?"

"The court yard. She wants to know the best positions for each solider." He replied.

Oni nodded and left the room, Link followed after and close the door after himself, not wanting to be scolded later for leaving it open.

* * *

**The Servants Quarters**

**11:00 pm.**

**One hour left.**

* * *

Shade was humming to herself as she traced another line with her blade on the stone floor. Cutting the stone to make a strange swirling pattern.

She smiled proudly at it and wiped away the stone dust on it. She saw something black crawling along the wall of the room and gasped.

A beetle.

She giggles and grabbed it, whispering a polite hello before putting it in her pocket.

"There you are!" Someone cried from the door, making her look up to see a maid standing at the doorframe. The same lady she saw earlier helping Zelda. "You're late missy!"

"Huh?" She frowned and stood up. "Late for what?"

"The celebrations, you need to change and pick your mask, other wise you'll look out of place there." The maid informed her.

"Oh." Shade said softly and thought to herself about how strange this was.

"We'll come on now," The maid grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room. "It's rude to be late miss."

Shade followed along and tried to keep up as she was taken down the hall and into a different room.

She looked around but her attention was quickly caught to the masks on the table.

"Here, you may pick anyone you like." The maid said as she stood by the table the masks were on.

There was one cut in half, a raven, a bear, and a full mask colored in silver and purple feathers.

Shade stares at them and lightly touched the raven one, it had a small black beak and two holes cut of for the eyes. The edges were laced in a soft black velvet ribbon, which hung down on either side of it.

She picked it up and turned it, pressing it to her face and looked around while grinng.

"Can I- ... Use this one?" She asked as she turned to the maid.

The women nodded and smiled. "Of course. Come along now." She pulled her to a closet and picked out a small white lacy dress with a pink ribbon tied around the waist.

"Quickly miss, put this on." She told the small girl.

Shade nodded and took off her own dress and quickly changed into the new one. She remembered the bug she had and hid it in the pink ribbon on her dress, its tiny legs twitched around in protest. She looked down and twirled, giggling slightly as the lace fluttered around her knees. Shade looked up at the maid and smiled sweetly.

The women smiled back and led her out of the room, down a new hall.

After a while of silence voices from a distance slowly grew louder. They entered a large hall full of people and knights everywhere. Everyone was dressed so lovely, the ladies with their fancy dresses and the men with their nice suits. They all looked so fancy that Shade felt out of place entirely.

"Off you go." The maid said kindly as she smiled. "There's a food table over there if you'd like to eat." She pointed off to the side and then left.

Shade turned back to all the people in front of her and tried to turn into a shadow instinctively. But the band on her wrist held her there. She stepped into the room and scurried over to the food table where she tried to remain unseen by everyone surrounding her.

Zelda was smiling and laughing with a few of the lords with Link at her side, looking as though he was trying to hide how bored and annoyed he was of this as other young ladies tried to flirt and tease with him. Zelda had a gold and soft pink mask on with a small gold chain looping through one side o it. Link wore one of green and gold with golden triangles on either of his cheeks and one on his forehead. Oni stood in one of the open courts, watching the moon for a moment before turning to a guard and giving out orders to the others. There almost seemed to be an empty circle around him, as though people were naturally avoiding him. He only wore half a mask, or at least that's how it looked. It was blue and white with a line of silver dividing the two other colors, and the moon was painted on the cheek bone of the mask.

Shade looked at the food and felt her mouth water. Colorful fruits and fancy breads and cheeses were decorating the table. Strong smelling sweets were well placed on a large platter, all decorated differently in nice colors and edible sparkles. A large roast was there as well with greens all around it an an apple in its mouth. Shade began to wonder how many servants were needed to bring all this here.

She sneakily picked up a grape and popped it in her mouth, delighted in how sweet it tasted. But she couldn't help but feel like she was stealing and glanced around nervously. She snatched up a pink candy and popped it in her mouth, her eyes widening at how sweet it tasted. She giggled to herself and looked around the room again.

She looked up as familiar voices came to ear beside her.

"-Quite a shame really..." A deep one said, a large Goron.

A Zora stood beside him and sighed. "Alcohol. Always with the alcohol. Must your kind be obsessed with eating and drinking?"

"Lach. You are far too tense. Take a load off! The battle is won!" The Goron laughed deeply.

Lach, the Zora, sighed. "I fear I will never be rid of you, Geirstein. You're absolutely maddening." But the Goron only laughed again at this.

Shade recognized them then. The two who she had stabbed... The ones who chased her in the hall...

Her eyes grew wide and she backed away from them.

Lach noticed her from the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow as he turned to her. "Well look at this. The shadow has come after all." He observed out loud.

Shade stepped back from them in slight fear, she still didn't trust them. Even if they were in a public place.

"Relax." Geirstein said casually. "Even if we did try to get you, not only would the guards panic but Oni Link would also be involved." He almost sounded bored as he spoke an a little disappointed.

Shade frowned at this and looked around, there were a lot of guards, and Oni seemed to tower over them so being able to see trouble stirring wouldn't be every hard for him.

"Just leave me alone." She told them softly softly as she stepped away again.

The Zora grabbed her arm as the Goron spoke.

"Tell ya what, we'll be willing to forget that little incident we had if you can-" The Goron started.

Shade wasnt really listening any more. She was still amazed at everything here. But when she did notice the rock man talking, she still didn't understand what he was saying.

"Hey!" She perked up and wiggled out of the Zora's grip.

"Uh... What?" He asked, confused as to why she would interrupt him mid-speech.

"Here," She said as she put a beetle in his hand from where she had hid it in the ribbon.

Geirstein and Lach stared at it, then at her as if she was insane.

"That's for stabbing you." She said sweetly as she smiled.

They continued to stare.

Shade giggled at them as she took another grape and popped it in her mouth. Bouncing on her heels a bit to look over the people everywhere.

Geirstein burst into laughter at her and shook his head.

"You are a strange little shadow." He chuckled as his friend still stared in utter confusion. "Thank you for this... Bug."

"Take care of him okay?" Shade beamed and moved past them as music started to play. Couples gathered together and started to dance with the music, all blending in perfectly with each note.

Zelda looked at Link to see his cheeks growing red as she smiled at him. She held out her hand for him to take and he swallowed hard as he led her out into the center of the room. She placed her other hand on his shoulder as he did for her waist and they started to dance slowly to the music.

Oni watched them all with the same emotionless expression, his white eyes giving nothing away as he thought of what the shadow had told him.

He decided he would go back to Ganons castle soon to see if he could find anything that may be of use to him there. She didn't seem to know a lot about what he really wanted to know, and that only made him question things more.

Shade smiled slightly and hummed to the song playing and wondered around through the guests for a long time. The way they all flowed together was mesmerizing. When the songs finally ended everyone dispersed and gathered around the food tables and the outside court yards to chat and make small talk with each other.

The shadow girl walked around the large room for a while longer, thinking of how boring this was, and wondering how anyone could be enjoying themselves when it was so boring! They weren't playing any games or being silly, they're we're just being polite and laughing every now and then to show they were having a good time.

After a while longer she decided she would go see Zelda now, thinking maybe she would allow her to leave. She had been here for an hour now and was feeling a little sleepy. Shade easily slipped past the dressed up people in the crowd. People watched her for a second as she passed them, some had large masks that covered their entire face, some were wild and scary looking, and a few had very small and simple ones, decorated in lovely colored jewels. It was a sea of masks around her, soft and large dresses brushing past her arms, and a haunting lullaby started to play in the background.

She was almost in the center of the main room when someone odd caught her eye. A large clock on the wall struck midnight and when she looked over at the strange person, her eyes grew wide and she froze in place. A dark figure stood in the middle of the room, his body facing hers perfectly from a distance.

He was taller then her, though most people were, and was wearing all black. His mask was a crow painted with black feathers and had a long polished beak, hiding his face from everyone around him. His jet black hair swayed gently, barely touching his shoulders. And he was watching her with red eyes. Casually, as if it were normal.

Shade was frightened of him.

She wasn't sure why though. There was just something off about him that sent chills down her spine.

But before she could even move or blink for that matter, a group of happy looking girls walked in front of her line of vision of him, a slight smirk appearing on his lips at the same time. And when they moved past...

He was gone.

Shade blinked hard and shivered slightly. '_Another shadow._..' Her mind whispered. She flinched slightly, feeling exposed here now, she moved away from the center of the party and tried to find a dark corner she could hide in.

What did this mean? If he really was another shadow -and not something of her imagination- what could she do? She could tell Zelda and Oni, but that wouldn't help in her favor. They would only ask more questions. Was master back? The thought made her flinch slightly, she wasn't sure what that would mean for her.

She raced through the crowd, hardly being noticed by the people around her, until she saw Oni.

He wasn't hard to spot, being tall and wearing all white helped with that, and she was grateful for that.

She scurried up to him and he looked down at her and frowned. She winced and then hugged his arm suddenly, not caring if he would push her off and yell at her. She needed some sort of comfort, anything to calm herself down a little.

"Uh-." He started, put off by her sudden gesture. "Is something wrong?" He asked her, a little confused as to why the small shadow girl was hugging his arm.

She shook her head and closed her eyes tightly. "C-can you take me back to my room now?" She asked softly. Wanting desperately to get away from here, away from the other shadow.

Oni's frown deepened at this but he nodded anyways.

"Let go of my arm." He said in a hard tone.

"Oh-." Shade quickly moved back from him and looked down in embarrassment, feeling foolish.

"... Hold my hand instead if you must." He sighed.

Shade nodded and eagerly took his hand, taking comfort through the simple touch.

Oni took a deep breath and walked with her through the crowd towards the entrance.

* * *

**A/N: This took forever to finish! Gah! T_T Im so sorry... :'( Anyways, I'd like to thank Wind-Mage-Vaati12 for helping me out with a few of scenes I was having trouble with. **

**Ciao!**

**-Whisp**


	7. Memories Worth Forgetting

**Chapter 7: Memories Worth Forgetting**

**Hyrule Castle**

**Main Hall: Masquerade Ball Room**

**12:00 pm**

* * *

The shadow smirked as the little girl ran away through the crowd from him. It was quite good luck that the foolish princess was hosting a masquerade ball or this could have be rather difficult for him. But among the other mask wearing guest he didn't look at all out of place. He couldn't help the dark smile that crept up to his face, this had been too easy. The hero and the Demi god had passed him and hadn't even noticed that he was there.

He watched as she left with Oni Link, keeping close to him and glancing back at the spot where she had saw him before nervously. He didn't exactly know her that well, he knew she was the clumsy shadow girl who never did anything right, and he had always wondered why master had kept her when she was clearly a screw up. He shook his head to clear it, none of that mattered now. He smiled darkly again. The little girl would be punished for betraying their master. And he would see to it personally.

* * *

**Servants Quarters**

**12:05 pm**

* * *

Oni carefully held the small shadows hand as he walked her back to the servants quarters.

She kept her head down as she walked and he frowned.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "N-nothing... I-I'm just sleepy..." She said quietly and shrunk back away from him a little.

Oni was still confused. "Very well." He said, knowing full well that demanding proper answers from her would be cruel at this point.

They walked in silence and he took her inside the room, right up to the bed she had chosen.

"Are you sure you are feeling well?" He asked.

Shade gave him a small nod and crawled onto the bed, sitting up and holding her old dress that the maid must have left there for her.

"I-... I shall let you be then." Oni said, flustered for the first time in his entire existence, and then left.

Shade quickly took her mask off and set it beside her pillow gently. She slipped out of her fancy dress and then wiggled into the plain one. She shuddered and buried herself in a nest like shape within the sheets on the bed.

She shivered and tried to calm herself, but she couldn't stop shaking. She was so frightened but she wasn't sure why, if there was another shadow... Could her master be alive? And created another because she failed him? She had never seen him before so perhaps he did not work for her master? She continued to shake, fear still building inside her like an icy dagger seeping through her veins.

But sleep still and and took the small girl away into the never ending darkness...

* * *

_Shade screamed out in horror as she watched her master brutally slash his blade tipped whip at Darks chest._

_Her ankle was chained to the wall and she sobbed at him to stop. To stop hurting him._

_But he did not listen to her, he only slashed at Dark harder, making him yell in pain, blood mixing with his tears. His chest had deep and long cuts criss crossing his skin, his black shirt in shreds and dripping with blood._

_"This is what happens when you try to make my slaves your own!" Ganondorf yelled and stabbed a dark crystal like blade into his chest._

_Dark screamed in pain and Shade screamed with him, terrified to the point of insanity as her small body trembled._

_She shook so badly and whimpered pathetically. Shades heart picked up and her blood grew cold. She couldn't even think straight as to what they did to deserve this._

_"DARK!" She screamed to him as she saw his head loll forward as webs of darkness stabbed into his skin, snaking inside him._

_Blood continued to drip onto the hard floor, Darks blood... And it was all her fault... _

_Tap tap tap tap tap... _

_It wasn't stopping! Why wasn't it stopping?! Shade sobbed and hugged her knees to her chest, crying and shaking uncontrollably. She knew he was being punished because it was all her fault. All the tapping of blood was because of her._

_Tap. Tap. Tap. _

_Ganondorf turned to her next with the whip in hand._

* * *

Shade jerked up in her bed and screamed.

Her scream echoed around the cold room she was in. Ringing in her ears as silence crept in. She didn't understand any of that. The name of the boy she had saw was slipping. But she knew he was the one she had saw at the party. The other shadow. But why would he be in her dream? She didn't know him so why was she so scared for him?

She looked around wildly and started to shake in fear. She was alone here. And it was too quite. Far too quiet.

She sobbed and ran out of her bed and raced down the hall, hearing her feet slapping over the floor echo around her, pounding in her ears.

Just like the blood tapping.

Her breathing quickened and her heart sped up as well, making her shake more and whimper. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the tapping grew louder, mocking her from the strange dream.

She hit something suddenly and someone grabbed her arms firmly.

"Shade! What are you-?"

She screamed again in fear and jerked back. "I'm sorry master-!" She cried as she looked up with tear filled eyes to see Oni looking down at her with wide eyes.

She froze for a second and a sob escaped her lips again as she started to cry again.

"Shade what's going on?! Are you hurt?!" He yelled worriedly as he looked her over and kneeled in front of her.

She couldn't answer, her throat too filled with fear and she knew she would only make sobbing noise instead of words. And the way he yelled at her only reminded her of the loudness of her masters angry voice in her dream.

"Did-... Did you have a nightmare?" He asked more calmly.

Shade nodded and brought a balled up fist to rub her eyes as she sobbed more.

Oni looked at her sadly and hugged her tightly to his chest.

"It's okay... It's okay." He whispered soothingly as he held her close. "It was just a bad dream."

She whimpered and hugged his neck tightly as she cried into his shoulder, too distraught to be surprised at the gesture. He rubbed her back soothingly as she continued to shudder and shake in his embrace.

"C-can I- s-stay with y-you-?" Shade asked through broken sobs.

Oni frowned slightly and then nodded. He picked her up and cradled her like a baby as he walked down the hall. She moved her arm so it was hooked around his neck.

Shade curled up to him and shook a little less. Taking in comfort from him carrying her. He walked with her in silence and occasionally looked down at her to see if she was calming down. When he reached his room he quietly pushed open the door with his back and looked down at her again. The young shadow girl was asleep, her chest rising and falling back slowly and rhythmically. Tears stained her cheeks and her expression, even as she slept, was still full of pain and distress.

His brow furrowed as he walked into his room. He laid her down on the bed and pulled up the blankets around her. Shade let out a soft whimper as she held onto his neck. He carefully peeled her arm off and tucked her inside the blanket, to which she only curled up in a tighter ball with it.

He sighed and moved to the fire place and easily started a small fire, the orange glowing light caressing the walls in the room, making them glow faintly with warmth.

He looked at her once again before leaving the room to find a servant to get a glass of water for her when she woke and to scout out the area at the party.

He knew something was wrong there. And Shade must have seen or sensed something as well.

He held his chin high with his cold gaze as he walked down the hall to the ball room.

* * *

When Shade woke she was almost too exhausted to be shocked that she was in another room. She looked around as she sat up, almost thinking she was at her masters castle.

But if that was so she would be in the dungeons, not in a room so lovely as this.

She saw the fire to the side and flinched slightly from the light, but the warmth was comforting enough that she could ignore the light.

She walked over to the fire with small and somewhat sluggish steps. She hid her eyes from the almost painful light and curled up on the floor, moving her arms so they shielded her from the light. At least this way she could pretend a little that she was back at her masters castle, sleeping on the cold bare floor.

Shade wondered distantly how she had gotten here. But her mind was too foggy to be able to explain to her what had happened.

She fell asleep again, for once feeling comfort with warmth surrounding her. Feeling safe for the first time in her short life.

* * *

Oni opened the door slowly, trying not to make any noise to wake the possibly sleeping girl. He carefully stepped in the room and saw that the bed was empty.

He frowned to himself and scanned the room and stopped as he saw a familiar girl curled up on the floor by the fire place.

He placed the glass full of water and then walked over to her and stared in confusion. '_Why does she insist on sleeping on the floor?'_ He wondered to himself and frowned.

Her small and delicate body was curled slightly into a ball as she slept on her side, her arm cradling her head from the hard surface. Her leg twitched slightly and she shifted in her sleep.

Oni sighed and carefully scooped her up, amazed at how light she was. He carried her over to the bed and carefully laid her down. She made an annoyed expression and let out a deep breath, as if she were pouting. Oni pulled the covers over her and she curled up into a ball again.

He sighed to himself and moved to sit on a chair at the end of the bed.

He was going to need a new method of approach with the shadow if he was going to figure out how she was created.

* * *

**A/N: This should have been out sooner but I've been so busy with school. :/ And exams are coming up! Yay! T_T So I won't have the next chapter up for a bit.**

**Reviews:**

**Guest: :3 hehe, I will try to make sure that they're up quickly for you! XD Thank you for the review!**

**xForeverGamerx: Eek! Yes! I'm so excited about his part in this. :) only a few know about it... ;) Thanks for the review hun'! And don't worry. Dark definitely plays a big part in all this. **

**Epicness: Hahah! Thanks dear. ;) I'm really glad you like it! Oh.. About that.. :) -**

**_-Notice-_**

**_Due to the fact that my idiot brother said that I should not write about romantic things anymore, there shall be no romance in here whatsoever. _**

**... Just kidding! XD *throws fluffy romance things at him* (I hope you liked this chapter anyways!) There will be more romantic stuff coming up in the following chapters! :DDD I mean come on. I can't help it. :3 I'm a sucker for romantic junk. **

**Short chapters are short. I'll try and make them longer! *determined look***


	8. Making New Friends

**Hyrule Castle**

**Outside the Western wall**

**6:30 am**

* * *

It was a cold morning. A light mist clung to the stones of the castle walls, and the grass was just about suffocating below with the fog swirling over it. Choking it in a pleasant and horrible looking way.

Brown leather boots cut through the grey and thick fog, almost leaving footprints behind as Link walked. One look at his boots would clearly show that they had been through much The cracks of the leather starting to web out from the bottom, the smudges of mud painted on the tip from kicking the ground.

Link closed his eyes for a second before his electric blue eyes gazed out into the woods.

It was peaceful here, winds brushing lazily against the deep green trees. The morning smell of Hyrule was always fresh and filled with a faint scent of something sweet.

Flashes of twilight covering these grounds stabbed into his mind, making him flinch.

Some hero he was. He couldn't defeat Ganondorf and he barely managed to get all of the twilight out of this realm. He clenched his jaw and balled his hands into fists.

He was a failure now. A defeated coward to everyone.

But the one that stuck with him more than all the other insults was being known as weak.

He had heard just about every insult in the book from the nobles and knights of his fall to Ganondorf. The only reason he hadn't gone completely mad was because of Zelda who always stood up for him.

His gaze softened at that a little and then grew cold. He didn't understand why she would do that. He had managed to release her from Ganondorf's control, and in return, she saw Ganondorf brutally beat him down.

Ganondorf left the castle after that to return to his own, releasing demons and chaos onto Hyrule.

After they had summoned the demi god, he and over half of Hyrule killed and or chased out all the demons from Hyrule.

Link shook his head. Now he was over thinking this, again.

He walked back towards the castle entrance, distantly wondering if he would be able to see Zelda today.

* * *

**Hyrule Castle**

** Oni Links Room**

** 6:45 am**

* * *

Shade woke slowly with watery eyes. She rubbed her eyes quickly and sat up to see she was not in the servant room. She gasped slightly and glanced around only to realize that she was in Oni Links room, and not her own. She frowned slightly and yawned. Slowly remembering why she was here.

That dream. That boy and... Master.

She shuddered, she could barely remember it. But she knew it was terrible.

But she was easily distracted by the sudden rumbling in her stomach. And any traces of the dream that she did remember were gone again.

She looked at Oni and tilted her head to the side slightly.

She scrambled out of the bed and stood in front of him. He was sound asleep and breathing softly with his head slightly leaning on his chest. His white hair covered his face and she felt the urge to reach out and grasp it, to see if it were as soft as it looked.

She watched him for a second. Then giggled because he looked silly like that, and ran out of the room.

She hummed to herself and skipped down the hall and into the quiet kitchen.

"Good morning!" she chirped to the servants and then cringed slightly when she remembered the last time she had said good morning to the other servants at her masters' castle.

The elderly women glanced up at her and smiled softly.

"Well hello young lady. You're up early." one of them noted as she swept the floor.

Shade giggled a little and stood on her tiptoes as she swayed back and forth.

"My master never allowed us to sleep in. The other servants told me to get up early cause then I could get more work done!" she said proudly and grinned.

The elderly ladies all chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"Do you need help?" the small girl asked as she leaned against the back of a chair.

The women looked at each other in surprise and then looked at her "We would be very happy if you cleaned off the table here."

Shade smiled and nodded. One of the servants handed her a wet rag. Shade took it and started to wipe the table of the dust collected on it.

"Enh-!" she reached out to the other side of the table but couldn't quite make it because of her tiny arms. She walked in circles around the table with the cloth on it, slowly making it to the center.

She stood on a nearby chair and leaned over to get the middle strip she had missed.

She hopped down and put the rag over the side of the sink.

The ladies smiled in appreciation.

"Alright missy, since you helped out you may pick something to eat as a treat."

Shades eyes widened. "Really?" she perked up, her eyes sparkling slightly.

The ladies nodded and one of them led her to the food storage room behind creaking wooden doors, where all different kinds of food were stored in boxes and jars.

Shade was amazed at all the food here, she had never seen so much before, except for at the party. She glanced at the elderly servant as if to ask if she could enter, and she gave the shadow a polite nod.

Shade smiled and stepped into the storage. She quickly looked around, then grabbed a loaf of bread and held it up the other woman.

"Can I have this?"

One of the ladies smiled and nodded to her. "Help yourself to more if you'd like."

The young shadows expression perked up at the thought of being able to have more bread. She walked over to the chair and climbed up onto it where she started to nibble at the edges of the brown loaf of bread, being mindful not to drop any crumbs on the clean table.

She glanced around herself and watched the servants busy themselves around like bees as they cleaned dishes and prepared the food for the meals for the day, chatting pleasantly to each other as they did so.

"What's your name little one?" one of the ladies sweeping asked her.

"Shade." she smiled, "Would you like some too?" she asked sweetly and held out her bread to her.

The woman smiled. "That's kind of you to offer, but I am quite alright little one."

The shadow nodded and ate her bread while swinging her legs over the stools edge.

"I hear you're staying here with Oni Link, right miss?" one of the servants asked.

Shade nodded. "Yep! He keeps asking me lots of questions though… about when I lived with my master and how I was created."

The ladies spoke softly to themselves then looked at her. "You must be the shadow we've heard so much about."

Shade nodded and grinned. "That's me!"

The ladies smiled sweetly at her and all asked her questions about what she thought about Hyrule castle and how Oni and everyone were treating her. When she told her about Lach and Geirstein they all nodded in understanding and made disapproved noises when she told them how mean they were to her. But after she explained how she gave them a beetle for a peace offering they all chuckled and seemed to relax a bit more.

Shade smiled as she told them all about her masters' castle and how mean the servants were, but she assured them that they were very nice and not at all like the ones at her masters castle. She also told them about her bug collection there, making a few of them pale slightly. They then, a little too eagerly, told her that if she wanted to take any of the bugs she found here she could. Shade smiled to herself and started to ask them questions as well, and she politely listened to them talk about their own children and husbands, most of which started to complain about theirs. Shade giggled to herself as she watched them in fascination all talk at once to each about their families and which one had the crazier household to take care of.

Shade smiled to herself and relaxed as she listened quietly to them talk happily to each other as they worked.

* * *

**Hyrule Castle**

**Oni Links Room**

**7:40 am**

* * *

Oni woke with a sudden jerk of his muscles and let out a deep breath once he realized he was not falling down into an endless pit. He sighed quietly to himself and rubbed his face with his hand to wake himself up a little. He glanced over to his bed to see the sheets twisted and empty.

He blinked and stood, still staring at the empty bed.

She was gone.

He cursed silently to himself and tried to convince himself that she must have wondered down some hall and was still inside the castle. The sun was shining through the long window on the wall furthest from him. She would not go outside now._ 'The sun would burn her too fast for her to run away far.' _He growled to himself and walked out of his room, closing the door behind him as he stormed down the hall.

He passed a few servants with linens stacked in their arms and he asked them if they had seen the shadow girl anywhere. They quickly shook their heads and shrunk back from him a little as he walked away grumbling to himself angrily.

He had more questions for her before he left to go to Ganondorfs' castle. There had to be something there that they had missed in their searches. He decided that he was going to take the shadow with him in case she could be of any help. And he did not want to imagine the kind of trouble she could get into if he were away for a long time like that.

But that was another manner to deal with. Right now he had to find her.

With every angry step he took down the halls searching for her, he couldn't help but grow more frustrated and annoyed.

* * *

**Hyrule Castle**

**The Main Kitchen**

**8:50 am**

* * *

"Has anyone seen-…?!" Oni started yelling for the billionth time as he entered the surprising loud kitchen before seeing the small girl sitting at the long table in the kitchen.

Shade was swinging her legs in the empty air while she sat on a tall wooden stool, listening to them all chatter. She turned and looked at him as if she sensed him there and grinned innocently at him.

"Good morning Oni!" she chirped and smiled sweetly at him.

Oni breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing she had not left the castle. But his expression quickly returned to its emotionless state as he looked at her and stood beside her.

"Do not leave like that again shadow." he half growled. "If you ever do that again-..." he started to threaten, watching her as her eyes grew wide with fear at his angry expression and tone.

"Oni Link you should be ashamed of yourself!" One of the servants snapped, cutting him off as the others glared at him. "Practically scaring this poor little girl half to death after everything that's been going on!"

"Uh-.." Oni stared at the woman in half shock and confusion, having no clue what was happening.

"We know exactly how you've been treating her mister. You may be a half god here but treating a young lady as such is unacceptable." another spoke harshly.

Oni was dumbfounded now. 'They dare to speak to me like that-?' he thought in utter shock.

Shade giggled a little at his confused and surprised expression. "I told them everything." she explained and gave him a small smile, as if she were apologizing for it as well in a way.

Oni stared at her then. 'How did these old servants manage to get her to talk so freely after so little of time meeting her?' he wondered in astonishment.

The old ladies continued to grumble about him while shooting him dirty looks.

The demi god felt a bit unnerved then for the first time in his existence, and a strange wave of shame hit him. He frowned and spoke quietly to Shade then in a much softer tone.

"Uh-… Are you feeling better?" he asked his tongue not use to forming words like that all in a question before.

Shade paused a moment and then nodded and continued eating the piece of bread that she had for the past hour. She kept her gaze down in fear of angering him further.

Oni sighed. "I am sorry for yelling at you, come with me now." He said and walked out of the kitchen, followed by angry glares and distasteful mutterings about him by the servants.

She hopped off her stool and waved good bye to the servants and followed after.

Oni turned to her once they were out of hearing range of the servants.

"I want you to come with me to Ganondorfs castle."

Shade blinked a few times so she could register what he just said.

"Y-you… what?"

Oni sighed and ran his fingers through his silver hair.

"You are coming with me to Ganondorf's castle. Now." He repeated.

Shade shuddered a little at the horrible images of what her masters' castle probably looked like now. She almost didn't want to go back, a strange part of her felt as though if she were to go back then her master would be there. And he would be very angry at her.

Oni sighed again and took her wrist with the golden bracelet on it as he crouched down to her level. Shade tried to pull away a little but his grip was firm though his hold wasn't hurting her, it was gentle as well as he held her tiny arm. She saw a slight glow grow in his hand and she flinched away from it. The silver light slowly moved from his palm and sunk into the gold bracelet swiftly, as if it were liquid instead of gold.

Shade snuck a glance at it and pulled away; she touched the band around her wrist and frowned. "What did you do?" she asked.

"I put a tracking spell in there. So now if you run off I'll be able to find you." he told her plainly as he stood up straight.

Shade frowned and tugged at it again without success. She pouted slightly and pursed her lips in a childish like manner, making Oni chuckle slightly. She glanced up at him in slight surprise.

"Don't run away like that again." He told her, once again back to his serious and emotionless self.

Shades eyes widen and she nodded quickly. Not wanting to test what else he would do if she snuck away again.

"Good." he said and walked down the hall.

She quickly followed behind, trying to keep up with his long legs.

Oni walked into a large dark room. It was cold here and the air felt slightly damp. Shade glanced around nervously and swung her arms a little as she walked. Oni pulled a heavy black curtain off of a silver frame as white sparks of magic flickered around his hands. Shade watched him curiously from behind, keeping her distance from the light of his magic.

Slowly the silver magic swirled into the frame and created a watery looking seal over it.

"What's that?" Shade asked as she stared at it.

"A portal. Now come." And with that, Oni walked straight into the silver portal and disappeared.

Shade gasped and froze for a second. She took a deep breath and balled her fists up as she hesitantly stepped into the portal after him.

* * *

**A/N: You know… As I was reading this I was noticing that this chapter was rather happy and calm like. So I thought to myself… This has to stop. **

**Stupid filler chapters are stupid. The next one will actually have the plot in it. But I'm in a pissy mood right now so I don't know when I'll be updating.**

**Reviews: (I have no idea who I've replied to by PMing)**

**anon: :') *sniffle* we could all be suckers together! ^0^ I will try and update as much as I can.**

**Epicness: Hell yeah. ;) We shall now start a sucker club. :3 But romantic junk is always great.**

**Wind-Mage-Vaati12: Thank you! :3 Haha, me too.**

**Anime-Freak-225-0691: Why thank you. XD She's about eight years old but was only created a year ago.**

**Oh, thank you Wingscutdarkness for editing most of this chapter.**

**Ciao.**

**-Whisp**


	9. The Mirror of Darkness

** Ganondorfs Castle:**

** The Entrance Hall**

** 9:00 am**

* * *

Dark Link smirked darkly as he saw a portal appear in the entry hall. He knew the half god couldn't resist coming back here to try and find more answers for whatever it was he was looking for. He watched the tall man walk in with his chin held high and his shoulders broadened, as if he were trying to intimidate anyone that could be watching. The little shadow girl came out next, her eyes widening as she saw the bodies ahead of them. She slapped her hands over eyes, hiding from the sight.

'_Tsch, silly girl_.' he scoffed in his mind. If he had been traveling with her he would have made her keep her hands down at her sides and held her face in place so that she could see that it was her fault they were dead. If she had just stabbed the god in the back during the battle between him and their master, Ganondorf would have had the advantage of a sudden attack while the god was distracted. Dark shook his head; he would have to fantasize about killing the half god later. He stepped back further into the shadows, feeling a familiar chill and shiver as he pulled darkness around him.

He had a very simple job.

Keep the god away from the mirror, and possibly capture the shadow girl.

He didn't like that last one. His face twisted in disapproval at the thought. '_Capturing the little shadow girl like that and handing her over to our master would be far too generous,_' he thought. He wanted to have his fun with her first, surely master wouldn't care then. Just as long he got her back somewhat alive enough for him to deal with her properly.

His lips twisted up into a dark smile as he disappeared.

* * *

There was an eerie silence that soon followed the gasp of the shadow as she appeared at her masters' castle. It was dark, cold, and empty of life. Not that it had been lively before, but the dead bodies littering the cold grey floor gave this place a different tone to it.

Shade gasped and covered her eyes with her hands. She didn't want to see the dead bodies of the servants, even if they were terrible to her, she still felt bad that they died. They were only doing what they had been told to do.

Oni had already walked ahead of her and glanced back to see why she wasn't following. His gaze softened ever so slightly at the sight of the small girl trying to hide her eyes from the scene in front of them.

"Come on," Oni said softly but firmly as he held his hand out to her. "We are going to look around a bit."

Shade glanced up at him, uncertainty flickering in her eyes as she looked at his hand quickly then back up to his white eyes. She reached her hand out cautiously and took his larger one. Oni nodded once and pulled her hand along, walking down a different hall so the little girl wouldn't have to walk around the bodies in the main corridor.

As they walked down the halls Oni would open every door they passed and check inside quickly. If they were any closets or cupboards he would quickly loot through them as well.

After about three hours of searching all the halls and floors of the castle Shade was growing more impatient and bored with this.

During the first hour she had told him all about how she had a rock collection here as well with her bug collection. And that she would have to hide them under the loose stone floor pieces in the servant room because one time a servant stepped on them and yelled at her about it. She explained with annoyance that the rocks here were always grey or black which were very boring colors. One time she had found a green rock here, not a very pretty one but it was nice enough for her, and when a servant stepped on it by accident, he threw it out the window in anger. Oni listened to her as he searched the castle, frowning every now and then at the way she spoke of the servants here. Afterwards, when Shade finished her rock story (which had taken an hour) they eventually started searching everything a second time. In fact this was the second time for them walking down this hall.

"Come ooonnn!" Shade whined to the god as she swung on the doors handle, hanging onto it while holding her legs off the ground. She had been asking to leave for a while now, making the god more annoyed with every plea.

"Silence." he growled at her. They had been here for three hours and he still had found nothing that could be of use to him!

Shade pursed her lips and pouted. She hopped down from the handle and ran out into the hall while giggling to herself.

Oni looked up. "Uh- hey! Get back here!" he snapped and ran after.

The girl only giggled again as she raced away from him. She ran past many doors and entries to other halls. Oni growled to himself in annoyance. He caught her by her arm and yanked her back to stop her from running.

"We did not come here to run around!" he glared down at her.

The girl yelped in surprise when he caught her she squirmed to get away. She looked up at him and her lip started to quiver as if she were going to-

"Oh for the love of Hyrule. Do not start crying." he commanded.

Shades expression only grew sadder as her eyes began to water. "I'm not crying!" She sobbed out. She scratched at his hand around her arm.

Oni groaned. "This is pointless. There's nothing here that can be useful." he closed his eyes and let her go so that he could rub his temples. There had to be something here. Anything that could help him figure out how Ganondorf created another shadow.

He heard Shade gasp down the hall. "Oni look!"

"Not now shadow." Half an hour ago she had said the same thing, only to point out that there was a large caterpillar on the floor. This had turned out to be a snake that he had to kick away just before it was going to bite her toes. He made a mental note to get her some shoes when they returned to Hyrule.

"No! Oni! Look! It's a door!" she said more urgently as she started to bounce on her heels.

"We have already looked through all of them." He told her.

"Noooope! This one just appeared!" she said. When Oni didn't open his eyes or respond she made a pouty face. She then walked up to him and stomped his foot hard. "Look!"

"Ow!" Oni grunted in more surprise then pain. "What?!" he snapped at her as he glared.

She pointed to a black door on the wall that looked much stronger than all the other poorly made doors here. This one had not been here before. Oni had come down this hall when he was searching for Ganondorf, and he would have remembered seeing a door like that.

Shade smiled proudly to herself, feeling as though this was a small victory for her. She ran back up to the door and turned the handle and walked in. She saw it appear when she skipped down the hall while touching the wall, for some reason once her hand brushed over that space on the wall it slowly showed itself.

Oni quickly snapped out of his confusion. "Hey! Wait!" He walked into the room after her and froze at what he saw.

A mirror stood in front of them at the back wall of the small room. The room was dusty and did not appear to have any windows, and it looked as though it had been touched for years. The mirror was the only object in here except for a small table on a wall. The mirror had a dark metal frame and stood frozen in the corner. But there was something wrong with it.

Its silvery surface did not show their reflections.

Shade stared at it, her eyes wide as she stepped towards it. She reached out and touched the surface and gasped as the surface rippled at her touch as if it were some sort of thick liquid. The strange mirror stuck to her fingers as if she could walk right into it-

"Shade! Don't touch it!" Oni yelled and grabbed her hand back from it, making it ripple more and bounce back into its motionless state.

Shade shuddered and stared at it. Her whole body felt cold now, but shadows weren't supposed to feel cold or warm.

"O-Oni-..." she started as she began to shiver.

He frowned at the mirror. "What is this..?" He wondered as he slowly approached it.

Shade squirmed away from him and ran down the hall, breathing hard as her entire body shook. Something was-... Wrong with that mirror. It had clung to her like she could melt into it.

"_Shade..._" A haunting voice called to her as she ran.

She gasped and her eyes widened. She ran faster and turned down a few different halls, gasping for air now. She stumbled slightly and shrieked as she tripped and fell. '_What's wrong with me?!_' her mind screamed. '_Why am I acting like this?!_'

"_Shade..._" The voice echoed again.

She scrambled up and ran but was cut off by a dead end. She quickly turned around and yelped as she saw someone several feet away from her, blocking her from leaving.

"Hello again Shade. How nice it is to finally be able to chat with you." The stranger said as he chuckled darkly.

Shades eyes widened. "Y-you-! You were at the party!" She realized. "You're a shadow like me!"

"Very good." he congratulated and walked towards her. "You're not as stupid as I thought you were."

She backed away from him. "W-what do you want?" She stuttered out.

He grinned evilly at her through his long dark hair. "You. But I'm afraid that'll have to wait for another time my dear Shade." He smirked and grabbed her chin once he got close enough, forcing her to look up at him.

Shade gasped and tried to jerk away. "Let go!_Oni!_" She cried out.

The other shadow only grinned at that. "We're going to play a game now, okay? You like games don't you little shadow?"

"Y-yes..." she shuddered, "S-sometimes…" She teared up in fear of him.

"Good." he cooed, "Here are the rules. You are not allowed to tell that half god that you saw me, or anything that I have said, or I will kill him. You cannot run from me or escape me. I will always find you. And in return..." He leaned in closer, making her flinch and turn her head away from him. His lips nearly brushed past her ear as he spoke barely above a whisper. "I won't tell master that you've been a naughty little shadow." He chuckled.

Shades eyes widened in horror and she jerked away from him. "_No!_" She screamed.

"You know what happens to shadows who have been bad right? The ones who do not obey their masters..." He grinned sadistically at her.

"No no no no no!" Shade shrieked and ran past him. "Leave me alone!" she sobbed.

The man merely appeared in front of her and caught her wrists.

"They-" he started.

"N-no..." she whimpered and struggled to get away.

"Are-"

"_No!_"

"Punished." he finished and chuckled to himself as he let her crumple to the ground. He snapped and disappeared in a mist of darkness.

Shade cried and fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands. Flashes of being whipped by the other slaves flickered in her mind, seeing others coming back from the dungeons with bloody scars on their backs and a haunted look in their watery eyes. Her yellow eyes flashed red for a second but it disappeared as someone ran up to her.

"Shade!" someone yelled at her.

She screamed a little and struggled as they scooped her up. "What happened?!" Oni yelled at her.

She continued to struggle and cry even as his hold around her did not loosen. Eventually she gave up her struggles and cried into her hands.

Oni closed his eyes and hugged her to his chest. "Shh. You're alright." He said softly, trying to comfort her but having no idea what he should do to help. "Shade. What happened?" He asked again in a calmer tone.

Shade shuddered and rubbed her eyes. "I-..." Her small voice cracked. "I don't wanna be here... Too much blood…" She sobbed quietly.

Oni's eyes turned sad for a brief moment, he sighed and then nodded.

"I'm sorry. We're leaving right now. You're okay." He said softly and carried her back to where the mirror was. He glared at it and then snapped making it disappear to the portal he created.

He walked back with her to the portal and pushed the mirror inside. The mirror would have to wait he decided. He closed the portal and sighed.

Shade glanced up and frowned as she saw they hadn't left her masters castle yet.

"W-what-?" she started.

"I want to show you something." he told her, "Relax."

Shade nodded and calmed herself a bit. With another snap, Oni opened another portal on the wall and stepped through, closing it behind them.

* * *

**Re Reviews:**

**Anime-freak-225-0691: Hah! XD yeah... I'm glad you pointed that out. ^^ ;)**

**Asummer6: Thank you! :D Oh my gosh yes. He is totally underrated, like Byrne *fangirl squeal*. Ahem. ^^' Anyways I hope you enjoy the rest of the story as well. And I quite enjoy writing about Shade.**

**Wind-Made-Vaati12: Welcome back! *hug* XD hahaha, thanks. ;)**

**Epicness357: Hey! That's awesome! Welcome to FF then! ^^**

**Wingscutdarkness: :') thank you. Aww! He was worried wasn't he? X3 Portals ****_are_****ninja. 0.0 *poof!* *portal exit* *uses fan on sparkle dust***

**NekoKitty13: Thank you! XD**

**A/N: Awe... You guys are so sweet and nice about Shade! Tell ya what, for all these nice reviews about her… I have decided not to kill her at the end! :D *shot* T_T Anyways, thank you all for these reviews. I know exactly what I'm doing in the next chapter so I will start on it soon!**

**Ciao!**

**-Whisp**


	10. A Gift and A Nightmare

**Chapter 10: A Gift and A Nightmare**

* * *

**Hyrule**

**Lake Hylia**

**9:45 pm**

* * *

Oni stepped onto the soft green grass with the small shadow in his arms, then quickly closed the portal behind himself. It was already sunset here. _'We should have left earlier.'_ He thought to himself. Though they were gone for three hours in their minds, time went much faster here. Traveling to different realms by the use of portals made time change faster.

Shade lifted her head up and sniffled a little.

"Oni-... Where-?" she started.

"Lake Hylia." he said as he set her down. "I think you'll enjoy it here."

"Oh..." she looked around to see an enormous sparkling lake in front of them. The sun was just about gone behind the emerald hills, so her skin wasn't burning from the dim light.

"Can you swim?" he asked her as he walked to the waters edge.

Shade shook her head and slowly walked up to the water. She poked her toes in and gasped.

"What?" Oni asked, looking at her in concern.

"It's cold!" she stared at the water and slowly poked her toes back in. "It's really cold..."

Oni chuckled to himself and sat down. "There's something in the water you might like."

Shade looked at him then at the water as she crouched down by the waves lazily lapping against the ground by her feet. She looked a bit deeper and saw pebbles and stones in the water.

"Whoa!" She gasped and plucked a blue one out of the water. "Look at this!" she practically screamed as she held the rock right in front of his face.

Oni nodded. "That one is called Sapphire."

Shade held it close to her face to look at it. "Wow..." she put it down and reached in and grabbed a handful. "Look! There's another one!" She exclaimed as she shoved a orange one at his face again so he could see.

The demi gods lips tilted up slightly. "Yes, that one is called Amber." he told her.

"Awe..." she smiled. "Hey! Help me look!" She tugged on his hand and pulled it into the water.

Oni froze for a second and then leaned forward a bit to help her look, somewhere deep inside him cursed himself for doing this- this childish act. But a part of him just wanted to help her calm down.

_'At least this way she'll trust me more._..' He reminded himself.

Shade pulled out a smooth white one. "Awe! It's so cute!" she cooed at it and rubbed it on her dress to dry it off, and shoved it in her pocket like all the others she liked.

She sat on her bum and splashed her legs around in the water, giggling to herself.

Oni reached into the water and grabbed a handful, he flicked out all the plain and boring ones back into the water while keeping the nicer looking ones for Shade to look through.

Shade let out a sudden shriek and jumped out of the water in a flash.

"What?!" Oni yelled and stood up. "What's wrong?!"

"Something's in the water!" she cried and pointed.

A few small silver fish swam near the edge where she had been sitting.

Oni let out a breath of relief and then chucked. "Shade, those are fish, they won't harm you."

"But they'll bite me!" she yelled, still terrified of the small and silver creatures.

"They might, but their teeth are very very tiny, and it tickles a little." He explained and slowly dipped his hand in by them.

Shade watched with wide eyes as the fish swam near his hand and every now and then lightly poked at it with their strange mouths.

"O-oh..." she said and sat back down by the water.

Oni frowned to himself and sat by her. "Have you never seen a fish before?"

Shade shook her head. "Master never let me leave the castle or go outside."

"Master?" Oni's frown deepened. "Ganondorf is dead, why do you still call him master? You are no longer a slave." he explained calmly.

Shade hugged her knees to her chest and avoided his gaze. "Well... I don't know... He made me so I guess he'll always be my master-" she started

"No." he said said firmly, making her look up. "He is not your master anymore. Understood? You no longer serve that bastar-" he stopped himself short of cursing in front of her. "-Bad man. Okay?"

Shade blinked a little as she looked at him. "Okay..." she didn't quite understand, she had always served her master, that was her purpose for existing.

Oni sighed. "Forgive me. I shouldn't not have been so harsh."

Shade smiled a little at him. "Oh no. It's okay. Really." She said sweetly as she smiled at him.

Oni watched her for a moment and then looked back at the lake.

Shade hummed to herself as she stood and wondered back and forth on the shore line, picking up rocks every now and then.

"Perhaps when it is warmer you can swim here next time we come." he told her.

Shade looked up at him with her bright yellow eyes and grinned. "Okay!" she chirped and nodded.

Oni gave her a nod back and looked back to the water. _'Such a strange girl..._' His mind whispered. He glanced into the water and frowned. '_Why am I doing this? She is a shadow. A monster.'_ He snuck a peek at her. '_Who yelps at the sight of fish..._' He shook his head and sighed. Something in the water caught his eye then and he reached in to grab it. He held the stone in his hand and looked it over. '_Perfect_.'

"Shade." he said, making her look up and walk towards to him.

"Yeah?"

Oni held out the stone to her. "This one is called Emerald."

Shade gasped. "Awe! That one is really pretty!" she smiled sweetly.

"You like it?" he asked.

Shade nodded, still staring at the beautiful stone in his hand.

Oni closed his fist around it and his magic slowly surrounded it. When he revealed the stone to her it had a golden chain attached to it. Shades eyes widened in amazement.

"Here," he said as he carefully put the necklace around her neck, "Now it's yours."

Shade could only stare at it, and she carefully held the stone in her tiny hand to see it. She looked back at Oni and smiled. "Thank you..." she sniffled a little. No one had ever given her a gift before.

Oni grew slightly flustered due to the fact that he was unsure as to how to respond. "Uh-... You are welcome." he finally said.

Shade beamed at him and skipped away while humming, her eyes grew watery from feeling so much happiness and gratitude. '_It's... Almost like the green stone I had found at masters castle.._.' The one she had found had been thrown away by a servant there. It was dark and dull looking, but this one was sparkling and bright. '_Oni... Is being kind to me..._' she smiled at the thought.

Oni sighed and stood. "It's getting late, come, we will return to Hyrule Castle now."

Shade walked back to him and nodded. Oni too her hand in his and opened a portal in front of them and walked through with her.

* * *

**Hyrule Castle**

**The Main Hall**

**10:00 pm**

* * *

"Look I don't really see how that has any relevance to what we are speaking of-"

"Of course it has relevance!" Geirstein shouted, intoxicated beyond what would seem possible for a Goron to hold in. "A tomato is a vegetable." he slurred out.

Lach sighed in defeat. "I was merely suggesting we find the chief here and speak to him about the dishes he has been serving. And tomatoes are fruits if you must know." Lach insisted.

"No way brother, they are vegetables. And how would you know? You live in the water."

"And you live in a pile of rocks." He shot back at the Goron.

Geirstein seemed taken aback at this. "Are you insulting my homeland, brother? Because if you are then we're going to have a big problem here-!" the Goron was cut off by a bright light down the hall from them, which opened up to show the demi god and the shadow girl. The two stared at the half god and the shadow girl as they walked down the hall towards them.

"Look!" Shade beamed and jumped in front of them. "Oni gave me this!" she held up her necklace to them proudly.

Geirstein and Lach stared at it in shock, their eyes glancing back and forth between her and the demi god who stood behind her. Their minds trying very hard to understand that the angry half god who seemed to hate just about everyone and everything... Gave the shadow girl an Emerald necklace?

Oni face palmed and groaned to himself. '_If she goes around telling everyone..._' his mind went on about how humiliating that would be.

A smirk crept up to the Gorons lips as he looked between Shade and Oni. "He did, did he? Well isn't that just adorable."

Oni glared at him. _'He dares to tease me?' _he was just on the verge of yelling at them to leave but he did not want to risk frightening Shade.

"Yeah!" Shade perked up more and giggled. "I'm gonna go show my other friends too, okay?" she skipped past them while humming to herself.

Once she was out of hearing the Zoran and the Goron started to chuckle.

"A gift huh? That was very nice of you Oni Link." Geirstein grinned.

"Are you starting to soften to the shadow girl?" Lach questioned with an amused tone in his voice.

Oni gave them a cold hard glare. "I would suggest you watch your tongues when speaking with a demi god. Or else there may be some kind of accident soon. And we wouldn't want that now would we?" Oni said darkly as he walked past them, leaving them frozen in place.

Shade was still humming as she walked into the servants quarters and she carefully placed the other rocks and stones she had found on the ledge of the window in the room. She walked up to a spider in the corner of the room and smiled as she crouched by it.

"Look what Oni gave me..." she said softly as she held her necklace in front of the spider. "He said it was an Emerald." she smiled down at her necklace.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes sleepily, she said a quick goodnight to the spider and curled up in her bed. Her hand held the stone carefully as sleep overtook her, washing away the terror she had felt earlier.

* * *

Hyrule Castle

Servants Quarters

10:15 pm

* * *

Oni walked into the doorway of the servants room and sighed to himself when he saw that Shade was sleeping. He was hoping that he would be able to speak with her about the strange mirror but he did not want to disturb her. Oni couldn't help but curse himself again with that thought. He should not be so generous and kind to her, he was getting far too attached to this shadow, which was forbidden by the goddesses themselves. But he would not allow himself to dwell on this any longer, he did not care for this girl, he only wished to gain her trust so that he may use it for his gain. It was cruel but it had to be done.

He walked down the hall to the private spell room, where he had put the mirror into, he pulled off the white sheet he had over it and gave the mirror a hard glare.

"_What are you?_" he questioned quietly. He knew that Shade would most likely not know what it is, but he knew it must be connected with her. When she had touched it, it almost seemed to want to pull her inside.

He reached out cautiously and touched the mirrors surface. It was cool and slightly wet, but his fingers did not stick to it, it simply rippled a little as if it were a pool of water.

_'Ganondorf must have been hiding this for a reason.' _But Oni could not figure out what. '_It must have something to do with the shadows...'_ he thought to himself as he walked around it.

He frowned and touched the frame, making his frown deepen. There was a dark energy source pulsing out of the mirror in strong waves.

Dark magic.

Oni narrowed his eyes and pulled out a few books from the shelves around him.

_'A Mirror of Darkness... What purpose do you have to Ganondorf_?' he questioned mentally as he began reading through the magic sources books. It must have something to do with the creation of shadows, but how? He was determined to find out exactly what this mirror did and why Ganondorf had it in his possession.

* * *

**Ganondorf's Castle**

**The Dining Hall**

**Midnight**

* * *

There was a loud crash as the large table in the dining hall was angrily thrown against the wall, splinters of wood exploded against the stones as the long table shattered to the floor.

"Argh!" Dark yelled in fury as he breathed out heavily, anger boiling in his blood.

'_They took the mirror... They took the damn mirror from right under me!'_

"Stupid shadow girl.." he growled darkly. '_If she had not distracted me I could have moved the mirror before that half god took it!'_ he clenched his fists as they began to tremble in rage. "Dammit... Damn them all." he snarled.

Ganondorf was going to kill him.

'_It was that girls fault... That room shouldn't have shown itself to her!'_

"Why did it show itself to her?!" he yelled. Was it because she was a shadow? Did she use magic to open it? No one was suppose to enter that room! No one was even suppose to get into that damn room!

He froze for a moment, hearing a silent buzz in his ears from the silence in the castle and he started to laugh then.

It was not a pleasant laugh, but a dark and twisted one, one that he couldn't stop. Not he wanted it to, but it was more like all his nerves screaming out in a form of a laugh instead. He managed to tune it down into a low chuckle. An insane smirk twisted around his lips as he teleported to where the girl was. He loomed over her bed and grinned.

"Oh my darling little shadow girl..." He chuckled evilly, "You should not have angered me..." He said softly enough so she would not wake. He touched her cheek with the back of his fingers and whispered into her ear. "Now I'm going to have to make your pathetic life a living hell." he said in a sweet tone.

He pulled back from her as she made a small whimpering noise, which only pleased him further. But there was a small flicker of something in the back of his mind that made him frown, it was almost disturbing in a way...

Dark shook it from his mind and teleported back to his masters castle. '_There's still time for me before I must tell master about all this._' He thought to himself, creating wondrous and terrifying plans. He could still get the mirror back, and toy with the little girl at the same time.

And he knew just what to do to make this worth every moment of waiting.

* * *

**A/N: *slow evil grin* What could Dark Link possible have planned for Shade? Oh and a tomato is a vegetable. :3 (I've actually been in a small argument about this.)**

**Re Reviews:**

**Jayde Strong: Hey! You've finally decided to review this story! ;) Yep. That's Shade for you. XD Thanks dear.**

**Anime-freak-225-0691: XD oh yeah. Dark Link is going to get even more evil in this story. :) :'( Yeah..**

**Lauren Chamberlain: Tee-hee! Thank you! :) Yeah. I won't spoil anything now of course but their relationship will become more clear later on.**

**Vaati12: Aww! Thank you! :) Oh, sorry about that hon, I've been busy lately. :/**

**asummer6: Hahahaha ;) thanks, that just shows how childish she can be. Hmm I have never heard of that pairing before. Why do you ask? I really like SheikxDark Link pairings though. ^^**

**Wingscutdarkness: *laughs* yeah. Dark is dark. :) Thanks dear! XD**

**I had meant to post this on my birthday yesterday but I think it's better I didn't because it would have turned out differently. ^^' Oh! I've also been trying to get a beta reader (I would really like one for this story) so can anyone tell me what you have to do in order to get one? 0-0 I'm really not sure how to. ^^ Is it bad that I laugh a little about these reviews about how evil Dark is? (side note: I'm laughing because this is nothing compared to what I have planned. :3) Anyways! I hope to clear more things up in this story within the next chapter. So if there is any confusion about anything in this story please tell me and I will try and clear it up for you in some way.**

**Ciao.**

**-Whisp**


End file.
